Andrew has welcomed the announcement of a £500,000 research grant to enable Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust and Oxford University to examine how Supervised Community Treatment works out in practice.

 The grant, announced by National Director for Mental Health Professon Louis Appleby, will look at who gets community treatment orders and what the benefits are.

 Andrew Smith said: "This is very important research, and our local Mental Health Trust and Oxford University are to be congratulated on winning the chance to do it. 

"Supervised community treatment, which is part of the Mental Health Bill currently going through Parliament, needs to work properly and ensure there is proper protection for the community from the minority of patients who present a risk whilst giving people with mental health problems the chance to rebuild their lives, for which family and social contact is vital.

"Like mental health services themselves, research into mental health issues has in the past been a poor relation when compared with other areas of medicine.   This new funding is all the more welcome for that."