But despite some changes, the most controversial aspect – new powers to lock up mentally ill people who have not committed a crime – will remain.Experts say the criteria for compulsory detention are so wide that even patients with mild anxiety could find themselves sectioned.It is now understood that officials at the Home Office and Department of Health have reworded the Bill in favour of mental health patients. Early drafts that would have compelled psychiatrists to section people with severe personality disorders have now been altered so that their powers are merely discretionary.However, ministers have emphasised that the sectioning power of courts will still be widened. Under the new reforms, judges will be able to send defendants who have not been charged or convicted of an imprisonable offence to a psychiatric hospital.The Mental Health Bill is understood to be now ready to be introduced into the House of Commons where it is expected to face fierce opposition from MPs.This week, members of the Mental Health Alliance, which represents more than 50 organisations, will meet at the House of Commons to mark the first anniversary of the proposed reforms.Speakers at the meeting are expected to include Rabbi Julia Neuberger and David Hinchliffe MP, both of whom have already voiced their concern at sections of the Bill.There have been more than 2,000 responses to the new proposals, most of which have expressed opposition. These include the Law Society, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and church leaders.The Mental Health Alliance called on ministers to publish a summary of the 2,000 consultation responses and to announce a clear timetable for a Bill that takes those consultations on board.”We remain opposed to this Bill as it is written,” said Paul Farmer, the MHA chairman. “We need the Government to show some sign that it is listening to the continued and widespread concerns about its contents.”Dr Tony Zigmond, a spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “We are pleased to see discretion, although this makes life difficult for us However, we will not operate the Bill in its present form. It will be too unethical.”The Labour peer Lord Bragg is the president of Mind and a member of a group of peers that has lobbied the Government to amend the Bill.

“We must have equalisation of benefits for the mentally ill,” he said “There is still this terrible slur on the mentally ill … and it is often difficult for people to be re-employed.”Marjorie Wallace, the head of mental health charity SANE, congratulated The Independent on Sunday for highlighting the distance that still had to be travelled in bringing about “enlightened” mental health law and services.”We still await a new Mental Health Bill to balance the rights of those with a mental illness or disorder, their families and carers and the victims when tragedies result from unmanaged mental illness,” she said. The issues: One year on – questions that still need answers What is The Independent on Sunday campaigning for?Mentally ill people should have the right to the most appropriate treatment when needed. He had been diagnosed with a severe personality disorder but was deemed untreatable so was not detained. Ministers regarded this as a dangerous loophole in the law.Why has there been such opposition to the Bill?The Mental Health Alliance, an umbrella group of more than 50 organisations set up to oppose the Bill, has argued it is unworkable, unethical and inhumane. Its chief objection is the provision to lock up people with severe personality disorders even if they have committed no crime.How many people will be affected?Early Home Office estimates put the number that could be pulled in under the new reforms at more than 14,000, which would overwhelm the psychiatric service and raise serious civil liberty issues.

The fear is that it will stigmatise the mentally ill and people will not come forward for treatment. Why should we care?One in 10 people will suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives, and workers are now more likely to take time off for anxiety-related health problems than for backache The economic and social cost is more than £77.4bn a year. Job applicants have more chance of being employed with a criminal record than with a mental health problem.Has the Government done anything to improve mental health services?More than £40m has been invested to improve the physical environments in psychiatric wards and 900 nurse advisers in NHS Direct have now received training to support callers with mental health problems 24 hours a day. The Government has marked out £300m for new community mental health services but much of this has been “lost” in the NHS.What more needs to be done?There is still nowhere for thousands of people with mental illness to go in times of crisis, and a dire shortage of psychiatrists and other mental health workers. Nearly 10 per cent of acute psychiatric beds have closed in the past five years. The mental health charity SANE says two-thirds of helpline callers are not getting access to new, safer drugs.What happens next?Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, is committed to introducing the Mental Health Bill into the House of Commons in the current session of Parliament, despite the widespread opposition to it, including from the Mental Health Alliance.