Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce racial inequalities in the use of the Mental Health Act 1983.

We are continuing to pilot models of Culturally Appropriate Advocacy, investing up to £1.5 million to provide tailored support people from ethnic minorities to better understand their rights when they are detained under the Mental Health Act.

The Patient and Carers Race Equality Framework was published by NHS England in October 2023. Rolling this out will support mental health trusts to improve access, experience and outcomes and reduce disparities for people from ethnic minority backgrounds. All mental health trusts will be required to have a framework in place by March 2025.

Between 1 December 2018 and 31 March 2023, there were 218,219 detentions under the Mental Health Act. It is important to note that the number of detentions is not the same as the number of people detained as some people might have been detained more than once during the period.