NHS Providers, chief executive, Daniel Elkeles, said reform of the Mental Health Act  alone will not be enough, however.

‘It will be vital to address the underlying issues driving pressures on services and to ensure sustainable funding, with investment in the mental health workforce and services in the community, to deliver care in the right place at the right time,' Elkeles said.

Rebecca Gray, mental health director at the NHS Confederation, said passage of the Bill provided a ‘long-awaited update to mental health legislation'.

Gray said a key driver of the reform had been to address inequity with black people three-and-a-half times more likely to be detained than their white counterparts.

The mental health director also welcomed elements of the Bill that will reduce inappropriate detentions of people with learning disabilities and autism.

‘Our members are now focussed on ensuring adequate provision in the community for people who might now be detained in hospital,' Gray said.

Health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said: ‘For too long, thousands of vulnerable people in mental health crises have been failed by outdated laws that stripped away their dignity and voice. 

‘The new Mental Health Act will transform lives by putting patients back in control of their care, tackling the unacceptable disparities that have seen black people detained at disproportionately high rates and giving NHS staff the tools to deliver care that truly helps people recover.

‘This delivers on our manifesto commitment to finally bring mental health care into the 21st century. After years of neglect, we are rebuilding a mental health system to treat people with the dignity and respect they deserve.'