Weekly Human Rights News: 10/01/2025

It’s BIHR’s first week of the new year! This week’s human rights news includes information about booking onto our new training course for senior practitioners who use the Mental Health Act, sharing the latest update from Learning Disability today that includes our new co-designed human rights resource, as well as news on the Health & Social Care Select Committee consulting on mental health care. 

With a new Mental Health Bill making its way through UK Parliament, there's no better time to be carefully considering how the Human Rights Act legal duties on public officials to respect, protect and fulfil human rights are relevant in the delivery of mental health care. Last month, BIHR shared information about a brand new online training course aimed at senior practitioners who work with the Mental Health Act (the main law covering the assessment, treatment and rights of people experiencing mental distress in England and Wales). The 3-part course aims to build the knowledge and confidence of staff working across mental health services to take a human rights-based approach, to help reduce restrictive practice and ensure people's rights are met.

BIHR will be running a free 45-minute taster session on 14th January at 12.30pm where interested organisations can get more information, and we will be hosting drop-in calls on 22nd January. Bookings close on 5th February and spaces will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

We worked together with Partners in Care and Health to create a human rights resource to support practitioners working with young autistic people and young people with a learning disability. The resource is now available on our website and this week was shared by Learning Disability Today, who explained that it “includes information about human rights duties and a range of case studies to show how human rights can be upheld in practice.”

The Health & Social Care Select Committee is consulting on community mental health care 

The Health & Social Care Select Committee is a Parliamentary group made up of MPs and peers which is responsible for examining the work of the UK Government’s Department Health and Social Care and making recommendations for ways things could be improved. The Committee is currently running a consultation on community mental health care. They want to hear about people’s experience of accessing community services for adults with severe mental health needs. 

The consultation is open until Tuesday 4th February and you can submit a response on the Committee website.