---

Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, of the two amendments in this group, Amendment No. 72 is rather stronger than Amendment No. 17. Both give expression to the wishes of patients to have their voices heard. Amendment No. 72 would give at least part-equivalence to the Mental Capacity Act, with patients being able to say what they would like for themselves in the future and what treatments they would refuse. I ask the Minister how these amendments fit into the Government’s proposed new Section 31A for the ECT safeguards. It seems that the Government have, in a sense, accepted the role of advance decisions in that. That is exceedingly important, particularly as we know from studies in the United States that in advance decisions—when patients, in between episodes of illness and having full capacity, document which treatments they do not want—80 per cent express an opinion on the future use of ECT.