Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring people who hold licenses with the Security Industry Authority to undertake mental health first aid training.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is responsible for setting standards for the mandatory training required for each of the roles within the private security industry that it licenses. It reviews its training standards every five years. This process involves the industry and expert stakeholders and a significant amount of research and consultation.

Applicants for an SIA front line licence must undertake mandatory training that covers the duty of care with regard to vulnerable people, including identifying factors that could make someone vulnerable such as mental ill-health. For door supervisor and close protection licences, mandatory training includes identifying the risk factors involved with the use of physical intervention which include individual factors such as individuals with mental health issues (history of violence, prior experience of abuse and trauma).