ABSTRACT
The Lunacy Commission, established in 1845, was the first national body set up to oversee the conditions in which people have been detained for reasons of mental disorder. It was succeeded by the Board of Control in 1913, which existed until 1959. There was no watchdog body from 1959 until 1983, when the Mental Health Act Commission (MHAC) was established. Each of these bodies has been required to report to the Secretary of State on an annual, or in the case of the MHAC, on a biennial basis. Much of the content of this chapter has been extracted from those reports.
