Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of children living in the London Borough of Lewisham who spent time in a police station as a place of safety as a result of a mental health condition in each of the last seven years.

The Home Office does not hold centrally the information requested.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, including information on where the person is detained, and whether they are under 18 or aged 18 years and over, at police force area level only.

These data were collected on a mandatory basis for the first time in 2016/17, and are published as part of the ‘Police powers and procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2017

Figures for the period 2014/15 and 2015/16 were published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and can be accessed using the following links:

http://www.npcc.police.uk/documents/edhr/2015/Section%20136%20MHA%20201415%20Data.pdf

http://www.npcc.police.uk/documents/S136%20Data%202015%2016.pdf

Data are not available for previous years.

The Home Office does not hold this information for individual London boroughs.