---

Mental Health Bill [Lords]

I raised my concerns about community treatment orders in Committee and, with the indulgence of the House, I will do so again on Report. I hope that I have the Minister’s indulgence and that she will not mind if I raise my concerns with as good grace as I can muster—[Interruption.] That sounds pretty good. There are huge resource issues with CTOs. From the piles of briefing that we have read over the past couple of months, it seems that there are currently about 32,000 people a year receiving some form of in-patient hospital care. With the introduction of CTOs, it is estimated that the numbers involved could be in the region of 25,000 a year. The figure is disputed, but a number of organisations that submitted evidence as part of the consultation process and then as part of Public Bill Committee scrutiny believe that the threshold for CTOs in this country will be set at a far lower level than that in many of the other 70 jurisdictions. It is anticipated that about 50 people per 100,000—a significant number—will be eligible to be placed under CTOs in this country. I am well aware that the Minister disagrees with the figure and will probably come back with a counter-bid, but if we could work on the basis of 25,000 people for the next few minutes, I would be grateful. First, we have to ask what will be the mechanism for delivery of CTOs. How will they be applied within the many diverse communities?