Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on changes in the level of use of section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

The Department and Home Office have been working together to increase the use of joint health and policing approaches and interventions that reduce the need for the police to use their powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

The introduction of initiatives such as street triage schemes and community based places of safety provide an alternative to the use of police cells. Through the Health Based Places of Safety capital funding scheme, £15 million has been made available in 2016/17 and 2017/18 to improve the standard and number of places of safety, as well as provide new crisis cafes and safe havens, street triage vehicles and improve facilities for children and young people.

This programme aligns with the mental health Crisis Care Concordat, the England-wide national agreement between the different agencies and services involved in the care of people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, a mental health crisis. Oversight of the Concordat is provided by the Concordat Steering Group and Chairmanship of this Group rotates between Departmental and Home Office Ministers.

Regarding the number of children and young people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in police cells in England each year since 2010, the information available is shown in the table. Data was not collected prior to 2011/12. We understand the data for 2015/16 will now be published by NHS Digital in November.