Section 25 - Disclosure period: mental health orders
104.Section 25 inserts new section 5F into the 1974 Act which makes provision for the disclosure period applicable to certain mental health disposals. This section does not deal with compulsion orders if they are made alone, without a restriction order, as they are provided for elsewhere.
105.Currently, section 5(7) of the 1974 Act makes provision for a scenario where, in respect of a conviction, a hospital order under Part 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 or Part 6 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (“the 1995 Act”), was made. The Mental Health Act 1983 does not extend to Scotland. Further, hospital orders have been replaced by compulsion orders. Accordingly, the 1974 Act requires to be updated in order to reflect the current law in relation to mental health disposals.
106.Section 5F(1), read with section 5F(2), sets out the relevant disclosure period when a restriction order is made in addition to a compulsion order under section 59 of the 1995 Act. Section 5F(3), read with section 5F(4), sets out the relevant disclosure period when a restriction order is made in addition to a compulsion order under section 57 of the 1995 Act. In either case, the restriction order must be disclosed from the date of conviction until such time as it ceases or ceased to have effect, at which point, the related compulsion order will fall to be treated under the provisions governing disclosure of relevant compulsion orders. As the compulsion order will become a ‘relevant compulsion order’ at the point at which the restriction order is revoked, the person subject to the order will be entitled to apply to the Mental Health Tribunal for a determination of their disclosure obligations in respect of a CO once a period of 12 months has elapsed from revocation of the restriction order.
107.Sections 5F(5), (6) and (7) deal with disclosure periods applicable to an assessment order, a treatment order and an interim compulsion order, each imposed under separate provisions of the 1995 Act.
108.The disclosure period for these orders is set out in section 5F(5) and states it will be a period beginning with the date of the conviction and ending on the date a ‘relevant sentence’ in respect of the conviction is imposed on the person. Section 5F(6) describes what these orders are and section 5F(7) defines ‘relevant sentence’ as any sentence other than an assessment order, a treatment order and an interim compulsion order (or, where applicable, a further such order). In effect, these orders are to be treated in the same way as adjournments and deferrals.
