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Mental Health Bill [Lords]

I have spoken about the topic for a considerable time already; I am fearful of acquiring a reputation in the subject. The point that I wish and intend to make is that where compulsory treatment is in place, it should not entail anything as invasive or uncertain as electroconvulsive therapy. I believe that that is a general common-sense point that we can all accept. Let me return in conclusion to what the hon. Member for Hackney, South and Shoreditch said. There is a real danger of decrying this legislation because it does not achieve everything. However, I would like to repeat, as an addendum to what I have said previously, that there are many people out there who are rattling around in society with very little insight into their condition, but they are not sufficiently dangerous or troublesome ever to meet the criteria to become eligible for compulsory treatment. My point is that we simply have no solution for those people at the moment. At one stage, they would gradually have drifted towards the institutionalised route, but now they exist in various forms and are by and large untreated.