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Mental Health Bill 2006 - code of practice and memorandum

  • Document type:
    Guidance
  • Author:
    Department of Health
  • Published date:
    7 January 2007
  • Gateway reference:
    7398 (code of practice), 7410 (memorandum)
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown

These documents set out, in draft, how the current Mental Health Act 1983 code of practice and memorandum would be likely to change in the light of the Mental Health Bill, were the current style and structure retained. A draft chapter on the Bournewood provisions, which will be incorporated into the Mental Capacity Act code of practice, will be available shortly.

We are publishing these drafts now in order to help people understand the effect of the Bill and to inform the debate as the Bill passes through Parliament. We would welcome comments on these documents; however, they have not been produced for formal consultation.  There will be a formal consultation on both the style and content of these documents once the Bill has been passed (Parliament willing).

The draft Code of Practice has been prepared by the Department of Health as guidance for England. The Welsh Assembly Government, on behalf of Welsh Ministers, will prepare a Code of Practice for Wales, which will be available in the Summer of 2007.

What is the Mental Health Act code of practice?

The code of practice gives guidance to statutory bodies and professionals on how the Mental Health Act should be applied. In accordance with case law practitioners should have a cogent reason if they depart from the guidance in the code.  The code is also a useful source of information to patients and their representatives. 

The revisions in this draft version of  the code focus on two areas:

  • to guide professionals and others on how the changes to the 1983 Act should be carried into practice;
  • to update the code to reflect changes in case law, policy and practice since the last edition of the code (which was published in 1999)

For this early draft, we have used the framework of the current code and have added amendments (in green).  For example in the chapter on guiding principles, the new draft material has been inserted into the existing chapter, and appears in green.

What is the Mental Health Act memorandum?

The memorandum describes the main provisions of the Act and is for the guidance of all those who work with the Act. As with the code of practice, we have used the existing framework of the memorandum and have added amendments in green

Next steps

DH officials will continue developing the material for the code of practice and memorandum and the Bournewood chapter for the Mental Capacity Act Code in discussion with stakeholders as the Bill goes through Parliament.

Following introduction of the Bill, we will be engaging with stakeholders, including in a series of workshops and consultation events to develop further the draft material and as part of the wider review of style and format of the code of practice and memorandum. 

Draft timetable for consultation

A revised timetable will be made as soon as possible following the Bill receiving Royal Assent.  The timetable will outline the process for formal consultation on the draft illustrative Code of Practice. Prior to the formal consultation, we would be very interested to receive any comments on the draft illustrative Code of Practice.

To conclude, this is draft material and there will be opportunities throughout the development of the code and memorandum to make further comments

Contact information

If you would like a copy of either of these draft documents (code or memorandum) without the crossed out parts please email.

Please send your comments to:

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