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Mental Health Bill [HL]

The noble Earl is right to point out the role of the best interests assessor, who has to give reasons in the report of his assessment for his conclusion that deprivation of liberty is not in the person’s best interests. We think that that is the best way for that to be dealt with because he, rather than the supervisory body, will be in close contact with the person, his family, friends and carers and with care homes and hospital staff and will be best able to advise on how deprivation of liberty should be avoided. The way that Schedule 6 is drafted provides for the person concerned or anyone with an interest consulted by the best interests assessor and any independent mental capacity advocate to be told that the authorisation has not been granted. They will therefore be aware that the deprivation of liberty is unnecessary and will be expecting changes to take place in the care plan that has been established. I share the ambition to ensure that appropriate action is taken when unnecessary deprivation of liberty is identified. We think we can achieve that through the arrangements that we are making for the assessor to recommend how the deprivation of liberty can be avoided and through the code of practice. I am inevitably happy to think further about whether we can do more to strengthen that in the context of the code of practice and whether we have this right in the Bill.