Lord Kamall (Con)

My Lords, before I begin my remarks, I express my gratitude to the Minister and to officials for their engagement with not only me but other noble Lords between Committee and now. I know I am not alone in appreciating the amount of time and work that the Minister and officials have put into meeting with us, addressing our concerns, and even having follow-up meetings; that was very much appreciated. I will speak to Amendment 1, in the name of my noble friend Lady Browning, and briefly address some of the other amendments in this group. We supported my noble friend Lady Browning’s intention to retable this amendment, which seeks to address the loophole which could lead to the use of the Mental Capacity Act to detain patients with learning disabilities but without a recurring condition. As noble Lords have acknowledged, both in Committee and today, once the legal basis for detention under the Mental Health Act is removed for these patients, there was always a profound risk of them falling under the deprivation of liberty safeguards. Nobody wishes to see extra safeguards introduced into the Mental Health Act for that to be simply replaced with detention by another Act. My noble friend said today that she has received further assurances from the Minister—we are grateful for those assurances—and that she is no longer minded to test the opinion of the House. Had she been minded to test the opinion of the House, she would have had our full support, but I am grateful for the assurances that the Minister has given to my noble friend.