asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what guidelines are issued to doctors regarding obtaining patients' consent before psychosurgery, is carried out.

No guidelines have been issued by the department but the medical defence societies publish guidelines on consent to treatment from time to time for the benefit of their members. As I said in my reply to the hon. Member on 4 December, consent to treatment on the part of patients detained under the Mental Health Act raises difficult issues which we are examining in the context of the review of the Act.