The Joint Pre-Legislative Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill has now released its report, which comments on proposals to change mental health laws in England and Wales.  

What is the Draft Mental Health Bill 

In June 2022 the Government published its Draft Mental Health Bill to change mental health laws in England and Wales. 

The draft bill aims to reduce the number of people that are detained in mental health hospitals and proposes some important changes that would make a difference for autistic people, including: 

• Changing the definition of “mental disorder” in the Mental Health Act so it no longer includes autism, which should help prevent the wrongful detention of autistic people who do not have a mental health condition. 

• Introducing a duty for councils, NHS England and local health decision makers to provide enough of the right community services to prevent autistic people reaching crisis point, and having to stay in an institution because there is nowhere else to go. 

• Making Care and Treatment Review actions enforceable, helping autistic people get discharged from hospitals sooner. 

You can read more about the Bill here. 

Who are the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill? 

After the draft Bill was published, a Joint Committee was created by the House of Lords and the House of Commons to review the Bill. This process is known as ‘Pre-legislative Scrutiny’ and happens before some bills are made into a law. As part of this process the Committee heard from lots of different people and organisations to get their views on the Bill. This included charities, psychiatrists, NHS workers and Government Ministers and views were collected through written evidence, surveys and in person hearings. After weighing up the evidence, the Joint Committee examined the Bill and produced a report with their findings and recommendations. 

What does the report say? 

The Committee’s report supports the intentions of the Bill, including the aim to end the unnecessary and long-term detention of autistic people in mental health hospitals. However, the Committee has also recognised that the Bill should be strengthened. 

The report supports the vital change to the definition of ‘mental disorder’ but also contains further important recommendations from the Committee, that could make a real difference to the lives of autistic people. This includes: 

• Strengthening duties to supply enough community services for autistic people and people with learning disabilities. 

• Urging the Government to review the Mental Capacity Act so that this cannot be used as an alternative way to detain autistic people and people with a learning disability.  

• Shortening the maximum length of time between Care and Treatment Reviews from 12 months to 6 months and strengthening requirements to carry out recommendations from reviews. This should help autistic people to be discharged sooner. 

The Committee has also said that an implementation and workforce plan with clear actions and milestones should be published alongside the Bill. This would help with understanding what extra resources and staff might be needed as well as holding the Government to account and making sure that any changes are effective. 

As well as this, the committee have recommended that a new Mental Health Commissioner post should be created to monitor the changes and speak with mental health patients as well as their families and carers. 

Our views 

We welcome the Joint Committee’s report. We have been campaigning to stop autistic people from being wrongfully detained for years and both the draft Bill and the committee’s report represent a real chance to make a difference.  

We presented oral and written evidence to the Committee, emphasising how important it would be to strengthen the Bill’s duties on commissioners and health care professionals. We are pleased to see this reflected in the report and the Committee is right to say that more reform is needed.  

Whilst we wait for reforms, autistic people will still be stuck in mental health hospitals where they are subject to overmedication, inappropriate restraint and seclusion. To prevent autistic people from reaching crisis point in the first-place urgent investment is needed to provide more of the right community social care and mental health services. 

We urge the Government to listen to warnings about the lack of community provisions and to act on the committee’s recommendations as soon as possible while the Bill continues to make its way through the legislative process.  

Tim Nicholls, Head of Influencing and Research at the National Autistic Society, said: “Today’s Joint Committee report is a huge step forward in the campaign to stop the scandal of autistic people being stuck in mental health hospitals. Government must act quickly to pass this vital law. But legal change alone is not enough. As the Committee rightly said, we urgently need more social care and mental health services, so that autistic people have the right support in the community and don’t reach crisis in the first place. It can’t wait.” 

Further Information 

• Read our news story on the number of autistic people in mental health hospitals 

• Read our news story on the Government’s Draft Mental Health Bill  

• Read about the proposals in the Government’s Draft Mental Health Bill 

• Read Alexis’ story about being “locked inside” various mental health hospitals for three years.  

• Read our information, advice and guidance about autism and mental health 

• Find out about our Autism Inpatient Mental Health Casework Service, which provides confidential advice and support for autistic people at risk of going into inpatient units, those stuck in them – or their families.