Centre for Mental Health

Mental Health Legislation

Health and Social Care Act 2012

The new Health and Social Care Act, passed in March 2012, includes a commitment to 'parity of esteem' between mental and physical health, establishing a duty to improve the nation’s mental health services and the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of both physical and mental health.

No Health Without Mental Health 2011

In march 2012, the Government published a Mental Health strategy, No Health Without Mental Health, signalling a clear commitment to improving the nation's mental health and to improving the life chances of the millions of people in England who have mental health problems. The Centre welcomed the strategy, with its pledge to develop diversion services, to extend the availability of psychological therapies to more people and its commitment to promoting mental health for people of all ages. The challenge now is to put the vision the Government has articulated into action.

Centre for Mental Health published two briefings in conjunction with the Mental Health Strategic Partnership, aimed at general practice and community organisations. The two briefings, No Health without Mental Health: a guide for general practice and No Health without Mental Health: a guide for community organisations, explain in practical terms the ways in which general practitioners, community groups and voluntary organisations can improve life chances for people with mental health conditions.

Mental Health Act 2007

Mental Health Act reform began in 1998, when the then secretary of state for health Frank Dobson announced the Government's intention to create new legislation to close 'loopholes' in the existing Act, which was passed in 1983. Widespread concerns about the Government's proposals lead to the creation, in 1999, of the Mental Heath Alliance, a unique coalition of some 75 organisations, including Centre for Mental Health.

A year later, an Expert Committee made recommendations for a new Bill. Many of the main tenets of this were rejected in subsequent policy announcements and in the 2002 draft Bill. Consultation on the draft Bill provoked some 2,000 responses. A second draft Bill was published in September 2004: this, too, was universally criticised, with a Joint Scrutiny Committee of Parliament report describing it as 'fundamentally flawed' in parts. In March 2006, the Department of Health announced that it was dropping the draft Mental Health Bill and would instead amend the 1983 Mental Health Act. The Mental Health Act was passed in 2007.

Mental Health Act 2007 - Draft Code of Practice

This was our response to the consultation on the Draft Code of Practice. It covers places of safety, supervised community treatment and mental health and offending.

Download our response (36 KB)

The King's Fund published a briefing on the 2007 Mental Health Act, which focused on the extension of powers of compulsion in the community - Supervised Community Treatment - and a widening of the professional groups that could apply to fulfil new roles that exercise power under the Act.

Mental Health Act 1983

A reference guide to the 1983 Mental Health Act is available on the Department of Health website.