---

Mental Health Bill [HL]

I wish to add a few words to what has been said. In my view, the noble Earl has made a very strong case against the provisions for CTOs as they are described in the Bill. The Joint Committee set out its views very clearly at pages 70 to 72 of its report and I do not propose to repeat its conclusions here. I emphasise that the committee heard a great deal of evidence on this matter. We looked for evidence from abroad, and the evidence that we received supported the conclusions summarised by the noble Earl a few moments ago. I emphasise the concern of the committee that, unless CTOs have some kind of finite time limitation, there is a real risk that patients will find it very difficult ever to be removed from a CTO. At lines 9 to 14 on page 19 of the Bill, subsection (3) of proposed new Section 20A makes it absolutely clear that community treatment periods may be extended initially for six months and then for a further period of one year. There is no particular objection to that, but it goes on to say, "““and so on for periods of one year at a time””." That is precisely the kind of provision about which the committee was deeply concerned. It is precisely the kind of provision that could lead to the sort of cautious approach of which the noble Earl was speaking. We were not opposed in principle to CTOs with appropriate circumscription around them—that has already been discussed—but we invite the Minister to respond positively by saying that the Government will in some way revisit the possibility of CTOs being extended time without end.