Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of providing therapeutic placements instead of prison sentences for people with mental health, neurodiversity or learning difficulties.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to continuing to work closely with health and justice partners to increase the use of therapeutic alternatives to custody, to better address the underlying causes of offending behaviour and divert people from prison, where appropriate. This includes supporting health partners to scale up the availability of primary Mental Health Treatment Requirements, which provide a vital non-custodial pathway for those with mental health needs. NHS England are on track to achieve 100% coverage across every court in England by 2024. Specialist input has also been provided to ensure that all Community Sentence Treatment Requirements are accessible and appropriate for individuals with neurodiverse needs.

Evaluation of MHTRs is ongoing which will explore the benefits of this approach, the latest report was published on 31 March 2023 and can be found here: https://pure.northampton.ac.uk/en/publications/community-sentence-treatment-requirement-multisite-report-july-20-5.

In addition, NHS England provide a flagship Liaison and Diversion service, which helps to identify and support people who have mental health, substance misuse or neurodiverse needs when they first come into contact with the criminal justice system. This service is available in police custody suites and courts across England, to support people to access health or social care in the community and enable them to be diverted away from the criminal justice system into a more therapeutic setting, where appropriate.