I beg to move amendment 28, in clause 6, page 4, line 2, leave out “Care Quality Commission” and insert “Secretary of State”.

This amendment places the duty to publish guidance under Clause 6 on the Secretary of State rather than the Care Quality Commission.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 29, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, leave out “registered managers” and insert

“responsible persons and relevant health organisations”.

This amendment is consequential on Amendment 7 as well as including relevant health organisations as subjects of the guidance published under Clause 6.

Amendment 30, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, at end insert—

‘(1A) In exercising functions under this Act, responsible persons and relevant health organisations must have regard to guidance published under this section.’

This amendment places a duty on responsible persons and relevant health organisations to have regard to the guidance published under Clause 6.

Amendment 31, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, at end insert—

‘(1B) The Secretary of State must keep under review any guidance published under this section.’

This amendment places a duty on the Secretary of State to review any guidance published under Clause 6.

Amendment 32, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, at end insert—

‘(1C) Before publishing guidance under this section, the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.’

This amendment imposes a duty onto the Secretary of State to consult before publishing guidance under Clause 6.

Amendment 33, in clause 6, page 4, line 4, leave out subsection (2).

This amendment removes Clause 6(2) which is legally unnecessary.

Amendment 34, in clause 6, page 4, line 10, leave out subsection (3) and insert—

‘(3A) The Secretary of State may from time to time revise the guidance published under this section and, if this is done, must publish the guidance as revised.

(3B) If the Secretary of State considers that any revisions would amount to a substantial change in the guidance, the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate before publishing any revised guidance.’

This amendment places a duty onto the Secretary of State to consult before publishing revised guidance under Clause 6 where the revisions to the guidance are substantial.

New clause 3—Delegation of responsible person’s functions—

‘(1) The responsible person for each mental health unit may delegate any functions exercisable by the responsible person under this Act to a relevant person only in accordance with this section.

(2) The responsible person may only delegate a function to a relevant person if the relevant person is of an appropriate level of seniority.

(3) The delegation of a function does not affect the responsibility of the responsible person for the exercise of the responsible person’s functions under this Act.

(4) The delegation of a function does not prevent the responsible person from exercising the function.

(5) In this section “relevant person” means a person employed by the relevant health organisation that operates the mental health unit.’

This new clause gives a power to the responsible person to delegate functions under the Bill subject to the limitation that the person to whom functions are delegated is of an appropriate level of seniority. The obligations associated with the functions remain with the responsible person despite any delegation.

Rather than including too much prescriptive guidance in the Bill, we have decided that it is best dealt with through statutory guidance, so that it can always be kept up to date with the latest best practice or other information and can be changed more quickly than legislation. Clause 6 sets out the requirements for guidance to be issued to set out compliance with the various requirements of the Bill. Amendment 28 places a duty on the Secretary of State to produce that guidance. That is a more appropriate level at which to produce the guidance than the CQC, although the CQC will have an important role to play in monitoring and regulating compliance with the Bill. The guidance will be statutory, so a failure to have regard to it will be a breach of a statutory duty. The amendments provide me with the assurance that operators of mental health units will be fully aware of their duties and the requirements under the Act.

New clause 3 gives the responsible person the power to delegate their functions under the Bill to another employee of appropriate seniority, but it does not mean that the responsible person will no longer be accountable for that function. It is important that in every unit there is always a named individual who is responsible for compliance with the provisions of the Bill and accountable, should there be any failure to comply with the provisions.

I agree that it is more appropriate for the Secretary of State to produce the guidance under the clause. The guidance will provide mental health units and the healthcare organisations that operate them with a detailed explanation of the requirements of the Bill. That will help to ensure that they understand the obligations they are under and, in turn, help them reduce the use of force so that it is only ever used as a last resort and carried out appropriately.

I want to clarify something I said earlier, in case I gave a slightly wrong impression when I referred to volunteers. We do not expect volunteers to use force and, accordingly, we do not expect them to be given training. There will not be an outright ban, but clearly the emphasis in the Bill means that only appropriately trained professional staff will be involved.

The duty to consult will ensure that there is input from a wide range of partners and stakeholders, so that the guidance is well received within the health service. On that basis, the Government are content to support the amendments. We are also content to support the new clause, which will allow a responsible person to delegate some of their functions to the right person within the organisation, but still retain overall accountability for compliance with the requirements of the Bill.

Amendment 28 agreed to.

Amendments made: 29, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, leave out “registered managers” and insert

“responsible persons and relevant health organisations”

This amendment is consequential on Amendment 7 as well as including relevant health organisations as subjects of the guidance published under Clause 6.

Amendment 30, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, at end insert—

‘(1A) In exercising functions under this Act, responsible persons and relevant health organisations must have regard to guidance published under this section.’

This amendment places a duty on responsible persons and relevant health organisations to have regard to the guidance published under Clause 6.

Amendment 31, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, at end insert—

‘(1B) The Secretary of State must keep under review any guidance published under this section.’

This amendment places a duty on the Secretary of State to review any guidance published under Clause 6.

Amendment 32, in clause 6, page 4, line 3, at end insert—

‘(1C) Before publishing guidance under this section, the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.’

This amendment imposes a duty onto the Secretary of State to consult before publishing guidance under Clause 6.

Amendment 33, in clause 6, page 4, line 4, leave out subsection (2)

This amendment removes Clause 6(2) which is legally unnecessary.

Amendment 34, in clause 6, page 4, line 10, leave out subsection (3) and insert—

‘(3A) The Secretary of State may from time to time revise the guidance published under this section and, if this is done, must publish the guidance as revised.

(3B) If the Secretary of State considers that any revisions would amount to a substantial change in the guidance, the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate before publishing any revised guidance.’

This amendment places a duty onto the Secretary of State to consult before publishing revised guidance under Clause 6 where the revisions to the guidance are substantial.—(Mr Reed.)

Clause 6, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 9