Children's Act 1989
European Convention on Human Rights: Effects on Psychiatric Care
Human Rights Act 1998
Draft Local Government Bill 2002
Mental Health Act 1983 and transition to a new legal framework
Race Relations Act 2000

Children's Act 1989

The Act brings together most private and public law about children, thereby replacing complex and fragmented legislation with a single statute. The Act's philosophy is that the best place for the child to be brought up is usually in his own family and that the child in need (who includes the child with disabilities) can be helped most effectively if the local authority, working in partnership with the parents, provides a range and level of services appropriate to the child's needs. Therefore, the parents and the child (where he is of sufficient understanding) need to be given the opportunity to make their wishes and feelings known and to participate in decision-making.

To download a copy of guidance on The Children's Act published by the Department of Health go to: http://www.doh.gov.uk/scg/childrenactreport2001.htm

European Convention on Human Rights: Effects on Psychiatric Care

Article by A Persaud and D Hewitt, first published in Nursing Standard, June 2001

This article identifies ways the ECHR could be used to influence new standards for psychiatric care, and argues that the coming of the convention provides an opportunity to shape those standards according to the experience and aspirations of professionals in the field.

Download PDF of Nursing Standard article.

Human Rights Act 1998

Human right values apply to health and social services. The implementation of the Human Rights Act provides a significant opportunity for best practice in the services to promote a culture of respect for human rights.

The Department of Health advocates that human rights principles and values should be at the heart of services and policies. The Department is doing so by ensuring they are "mainstreamed" within national parameters and standards for the services, in particular through quality management and performance assessment in the NHS and social services. This coincides very well with the social services modernisation agenda and implementation of the NHS Plan.

For more information on this Act, go to: www.humanrights.gov.uk

Draft Local Government Bill (June 2002)

On 13 June 2002, the Government published a draft local government bill. This follows the local government White Paper - Strong Local Leadership, Quality Public Service - which was published in December 2001. The draft bill, as expected, sets out a range of legislative proposals on local government finance, which were initially consulted on in the Green Paper: Modernising Local Government Finance in September 2000 and were set out in the White Paper in December 2001.

The scope of the draft bill includes:

• a new, prudential capital finance system, including new duties on local authorities in relation to financial management
• changes to housing finance
• establishment of business improvement districts
• introduction of a statutory revaluation cycle for the council tax, and various changes to the operation of the council tax
• new powers for the Secretary of State to remove controls on authorities depending on their performance classification.

To download a copy of the draft bill here

Mental Health Act 1983 and transition to a new legal framework

The Mental Health Act 1983 is the main Act of Parliament setting out the rights of people receiving mental health services. It allows the hospital to either compel you to be admitted to hospital or prevent you from leaving hospital. Health workers use the law when they believe that it will be a risk to a person experiencing severe mental distress or to others if that person is not not in hospital.

A key element of the Government's strategy to modernise mental health services is reform of legislation and The White Paper 'Reforming the Mental Health Act' set out proposed changes. A draft Mental Health Bill was published in 2002 for wide consultation.

Race Relations Act 2000

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 strengthens and extends the scope of the 1976 Race Relations Act in two key ways:

• it extends protection against racial discrimination by public authorities
• it places a new, enforceable general duty on public authorities.

For more information, go to: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/raceact/overview.htm