Baroness Keeley (Lab)

My Lords, Amendment 54 in my name is the same as the one I tabled in Committee. It aims to ensure that the Human Rights Act 1998 protects individuals whenever the NHS, local authorities or other state bodies outsource mental health treatment or aftercare to private providers. It also seeks to secure human rights protection whenever people are deprived of their liberty by private health or social care providers in connection with mental disorders. I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for her comments on this amendment when it was debated in Committee and for all her engagement on the related issues before and since. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, for her support for this amendment, and to her and other noble Lords who spoke in favour of the amendment in Committee. I am also very grateful to Dr Lucy Series and Professor Luke Clements. They helped with drafting this amendment and provided notes and briefings on the need to close this gap in human rights protection for mental health patients when their care is commissioned from private health and social care providers. As we noted in Committee, after the 2007 case of YL v Birmingham City Council, Parliament moved to close gaps in human rights protection with Section 145 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and, more recently, with Section 73 of the Care Act. The noble Earl, Lord Howe, reminded us in Committee that, as Health Minister, he tabled a government amendment to the Care Bill in 2014 to close the gap in human rights protection. However, the recent High Court case of Sammut v Next Steps Mental Healthcare Ltd showed that mental health patients and many other users of outsourced health and social care services were still not protected. The judge held that the Human Rights Act did not apply because Mr Sammut’s care was arranged under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983, not under the Care Act. This judgment highlighted the narrow limitations of the Human Rights Act as a remedy for using outsourced public services such as private care provision or mental health treatment. This raises concerns about the human rights protection of thousands of other people who are deprived of their liberty in private health and social care settings in connection with their mental disorders. Amendment 54 addresses these gaps in human rights protection for three groups of people: patients such as Mr Sammut, who are receiving mental health aftercare from private providers; any patient receiving in-patient mental health services, whether subject to the Mental Health Act or not; and anybody who is deprived of their liberty by a private provider of health or social care in connection with a mental disorder. It would ensure better protection for people with mental disorders in private care settings.