M

Member

Speaking in the House of Lords on 31 March 2025

Debate

Mental Health Bill [HL]

Contribution

4: Clause 4, page 10, line 5, at end insert— “125FA Community Services Sufficiency Plan: commissioning of services for autistic people and people with a learning disability(1) The Secretary of State must prepare and lay before Parliament a document setting out a plan for resourcing and commissioning sufficient community services for autistic people and people with a learning disability to ensure the operability of provisions in the Mental Health Act 2025. (2) The document shall be referred to as the “Community Services Sufficiency Plan”.(3) The Community Services Sufficiency Plan must be published within one year of the day on which the Mental Health Act 2025 is passed.(4) The Community Services Sufficiency Plan must include—(a) a definition of “sufficient community services” in relation to autistic people and people with a learning disability, including how sufficient community services will be assessed regarding the operability of provisions in the Mental Health Act 2025;(b) the actions that the Secretary of State will take to ensure community services are available to meet demand for autistic people and people with a learning disability after the end of the 28-day detention period under section 2(4) of this Act (admission for assessment);(c) the actions that the Secretary of State will take to ensure that sufficient community services for autistic people and people with a learning disability are available to prevent detention under section 3 of this Act (admission for treatment);(d) plans to allocate appropriate resource to ensure operability of services, including, but not limited to, financial resource;(e) plans to ensure that responsible bodies and individuals receive the necessary training in autism and learning disability to carry out support, diagnosis, and treatment;(f) plans for data collection to support the commissioning of sufficient services for autistic people and people with a learning disability;(g) targets and milestones relevant to—(i) the number of autistic people and people with a learning disability who are detained under this Act, and(ii) the development of sufficient community services for autistic people and people with a learning disability,(h) any other information the Secretary of State deems relevant.(5) For a period of 10 years beginning on the day on which the Community Services Sufficiency Plan is first published, the Secretary of State—(a) must keep the plan under review, and(b) may revise it.(6) If the Secretary of State revises the Community Services Sufficiency Plan, the Secretary of State must publish it as revised.”

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