This House of Lords Library Briefing has been prepared in advance of the second reading in the House of Lords of the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill on 7 September 2018.
Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (282 KB , PDF)
The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill is a private member’s bill introduced in the House of Commons by Steve Reed (Labour MP for Croydon North) and sponsored in the House of Lords by Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour). The Bill has Government support and completed its third reading in the House of Commons on 6 July 2018. The Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords on 9 July 2018, and is due to be considered at second reading on 7 September 2018. The Bill was introduced by Steve Reed following the death of his constituent Olaseni Lewis on 4 September 2010, who died after being restrained by police officers in a mental health unit. The Bill would make provision for increased oversight and management of the use of force in mental health units in England and Wales, and would require police officers to wear body cameras when attending mental health units.
This briefing summarises the Bill’s provisions, the policy background, and the Bill’s House of Commons stages.
Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (282 KB , PDF)
An estimated 2.3 million people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2024. Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs has raised concerns about inconsistent support for victims and survivors and has called for urgent reform. The government has recently announced several policies aimed at enhancing this support, including a pilot of ‘domestic abuse protection notices’ and ‘domestic abuse protection orders’.
The government recently announced an independent review of physician and anaesthesia associates to be led by Professor Gillian Leng. This announcement followed a debate about the use of the roles in the NHS and concerns raised by some stakeholders about patient safety. The review has been widely welcomed by stakeholders as a way to move the debate forward.
Reported retail crime has increased significantly in recent years. This criminal activity, encompassing offences such as shoplifting and assaults on retail workers, has impacted businesses, their employees and local economies. The government has outlined plans to tackle retail crime in response to this issue. This includes legislating to create a new specific offence of assaulting a retail worker and to remove the threshold on so-called “low-value” shoplifting offences.
