Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were detained in health-based places of safety under the Mental Health Act 1983 in each year between 2017 and 2023; and what section of that Act they were held under.

The Home Office annually collects and publishes data on detentions under section 136 and section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983 as part of the Police Powers and Procedures publication series.

The most recent data can be found in the Detentions under the Mental Health Act data tables which can be downloaded from here: Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The information provided includes the type of place of safety the person was taken to.

Data for detentions under section 136, for the years ending March 2017 to the year ending March 2024, is available in table MHA.08.

Data for detentions under section 135, for the year ending March 2024, is available in table MHA.105a. Data for previous years is not available.

The data provided covers only detentions carried out by the police and does not include people taken to a health-based place of safety by other agencies.