Section 73: Mental health treatment requirement
405.Section 73 amends section 207 of the 1991 Act which makes provision about mental health treatment requirements in community orders or suspended sentence orders.
406.Currently, a court cannot make a mental health treatment requirement unless it is satisfied on the evidence of a registered medical practitioner approved for the purposes of section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983 that the mental condition of the offender requires treatment and may be susceptible to it, and other disposals under the Mental Health Act 1983 are not warranted.
407.Section 73 removes the condition that a court can only impose a mental health treatment requirement on the evidence of a registered mental health practitioner approved for the purposes of section 12. It remains the case that the court may not include a mental health treatment requirement unless the offender has expressed willingness to comply with it.