PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Mental Health Act 1983 Independent Review (21 May 2018)

The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act published an interim report on Tuesday 1 May 2018 which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-the-mental-health-act-interim-report

The Government commissioned this review with the objective of ensuring that the Mental Health Act works better for patients and their families, in view of rising rates of detention and the current disproportionate number of people from black and minority ethnic groups detained under the Act.

The Government welcomes the good progress made by Sir Simon Wessely and his team so far, including the wide-ranging engagement with stakeholders and service users which has been undertaken to date. We look forward to receiving the review’s final recommendations when published in the autumn.