Earl Howe (Con)

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in the debate on this group of amendments. As I trust was clear from my opening speech, all three are intended as probing amendments designed to tease out some key definitions. It was actually Amendment 141, regarding the definition, that I described as an Aunt Sally. I was particularly grateful for noble Lords’ support for Amendment 139 and for the Minister’s helpful comments. There is very little doubt that, as I think is generally accepted, community services delivered in partnership by local charities and civil society both reduce the cost to the state and carry the benefits I articulated earlier. Without implying any criticism of the NHS, those sorts of organisations will of course know their own communities better than an NHS hospital will. I am grateful to the Minister for what she was able to say about the definition of “serious harm”. The Explanatory Notes state that a test of serious harm has been introduced “to provide greater clarity as to the level of risk of harm that a person must present in order to be detained”. They then state that further guidance on what constitutes serious harm will be set out in the code of practice. So far, so good, and it is welcome that that will be clarified in the code of practice, but one of the issues here is that that will come later. Serious harm is included as one of the two key tests for detention in Clause 5, so what is meant by serious harm will impact on all future decisions made within the scope of the legislation. Therefore, we need maximum clarity from the Government as we debate the Bill. As regards the “specified risk factors”, I am again grateful to the Minister. I slightly worry that a person’s past history of admission to hospital could constitute a specific a priori risk factor for detention. There is a danger that that may turn into a directly determining factor for detention, rather than a factor to be taken into account in assessing an individual set of circumstances. As regards drug and alcohol misuse, we need to be careful not to encourage a circumvention of the Mental Health Act, which explicitly excludes drug and alcohol addiction as grounds for detention. I am once again grateful for the support that noble Lords were able to give to my amendments. I beg leave to withdraw Amendment 23.