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Mr. Dorrell : Indeed, but the difficulty with establishing a committee is that its terms of reference need to be clearly defined. Our minds are not closed on the subject, but the onus is on those who argue that the law is inadequate to describe the circumstances which they believe should be covered by the law--

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : Will the Minister accept that my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford also requested that, pending any such committee being set up, he might seek to find appropriate accommodation for

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Peter Newman? It will need to be accommodation with 24-hour care, treatment and supervision, because the man is mentally ill and requires such care, treatment and supervision. As my hon. Friend said, at present there is no suitable accommodation, there are no resources and there are no facilities to provide the necessary care for this vulnerable person.

Mr. Dorrell : My hon. Friend has neatly pre-empted my next remark. I have dealt with the definition of circumstances in which we deny someone his liberty under the Mental Health Act. If an individual does not come within the terms of the Act as written--or even as amended, as a result of my hon. Friend's initiative--we must conclude that he has precisely the same right to refuse treatment for mental or any other illness as any of my hon. Friends, or any other citizen. We all have that important right to discharge ourselves from an NHS hospital, although it may not be in our best clinical interests. I would not wish to finesse or blur Mr. Newman's right to discharge himself from facilities that may indeed be in his best clinical interest, if he is not covered by the Act.

That, of course, increases the onus on us to ensure that provision is adequate, and that mentally ill people who are not subject to the section power accept that the available treatment meets their needs. It is to that aim that the major enhancement of the mental illness programme on which we have embarked is directed. The date of 1 April 1991 marks not only the general implementation of the NHS reforms, but the beginning of the implementation of a major programme of enhancement of mental health facilities within the NHS, initiated by my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Freeman).

On 1 April, five points in our mental illness programme begin to take effect. First, each health authority has been charged with the introduction of the care-programme approach to treatment provision for the mentally ill. For those who are under the care of a health authority, the authority is required to ensure an individually tailored care programme for each patient, which must name a key person who is responsible for ensuring that the health and social facilities described in the programme are made available to the individual who benefits. That is a major enhancement of the management of mental illness services.

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Secondly, from 1 April we shall implement the mental illness specific grant, which will provide for total additional expenditure by social service departments of £30 million in the first year. Thirdly, we have announced the approval of capital allocations through the local government finance system, so that local authority social services departments not only have the specific grant to support their revenue expenditure, but have access to capital funds to ensure that the facilities are there on which the expenditure can be made.

Fourthly, we are continuing with the capital loans fund, which is designed to ensure that inappropriate, old-fashioned mental illness facilities are taken out of commission more quickly, and that the capital released thereby is used to provide more appropriate, effective care facilities within the community. Fifthly--perhaps as important as any other proposal, in the context of cases such as Peter Newman's--the next financial year will see physical expression of our programme for the homeless mentally ill in London, to ensure that, for those who slip through one net--and, to be honest, if we are providing for the majority of mentally ill people in the community, some will slip through--there is also a safety net to give them a staircase back into mainstream provision.

That programme adds up to £155 million of new money for mental illness services over the next three years. I do not think that anyone can doubt the Government's commitment to enhancing provision, precisely to meet the test that I described : that those who are not detained compulsorily under the Mental Health Act must have access to a range of provision that will cause them not to wish to discharge themselves voluntarily from provision that the law does not allow us to provide compulsorily.

I hope that my hon. Friends accept that we have clearly defined the circumstances in which provision should be compulsory. Those are very tightly drawn, properly in my view. If someone is not covered by such provision, it is incumbent on us to ensure that there is adequate voluntary provision, and to address that priority as well. The motion having been made after Ten o'clock and the debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. Deputy Speaker-- adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order. Adjourned at fifteen minutes past Twelve o'clock.

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