Church Leaders Call for Investigation into Race Review of Mental Health Bill

A number of church leaders have come out in support of the call from BMH UK (Black Mental Health UK) call for the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) to look into the Department of Health's (DH) handling of the race review of the new Mental Health Bill.

The human rights campaign group BMH UK have written to the Chair of the CRE, professor Kay Hampton, highlighting their concerns over the DH's failings of the Race Equality Impact Assessment Report (REIA) report which was published alongside the hugely contentious 2006 Mental Health Bill in November last year.

Bishop Dr Joe Aldred, chair of the Council of Black Led Churches, and Rev Nezlin Stirling, chair of the African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA), are among the church leaders supporting the call, which came after the government's own advisors officially distanced themselves from the report.

"The final document is ill considered and inaccurate and in no way reflects what the committee agreed. I was not able to see the REIA report before it went out and so was not able to check it for accuracy. I acknowledge this is one thing that the government isn't good at yet - but it is so important it needs to be done right," committee member of the REIA and consultant psychiatrist, Dr Kwame McKenzie said.

BMH UK has been pushing for the inclusion of stakeholders from the community, like church leaders, to be included in consultation over changes to the law since they were announced at the beginning of last year. However, 2006 saw black church leaders excluded from any involvement in government consultations over changes to the law.