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Mental Health Bill [HL]

I should like to make a brief contribution about Amendment No. 19. In part, the amendment is intended to preserve in statute such requirements of good practice and lawful decision-making as have been developed through a string of court judgments relating to the operation of Part 4 of the 1983 Act through its lifetime and to date. It seems to me eminently sensible to do so, so that statute law reflects and protects those basic requirements. I therefore support the amendment wholeheartedly. This is just a small point, but I note that the wording requires a doctor authorising treatment as the patient’s responsible medical officer, or as a second-opinion appointed doctor, to explain, "““how the treatment represents a favourable balance of therapeutic benefit over harm””." The Government have been implacable in their opposition to the concept of therapeutic benefit as a criterion for detention under the powers in the legislation. I think that the Minister knows that this debate has not come to an end. I hope that the Government will not, in the end, continue to oppose the concept of therapeutic benefit, especially in the context of the imposition of medical treatment, where it is surely a most appropriate measure. In any case, I hope that the Minister will take the spirit of the amendment and come back with wording that the Government are prepared to accept.