Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on the implementation of recommendations of the Report of the Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing, published in May 2013.

The Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing was commissioned by
the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in relation to mental health issues in
London. It is therefore the responsibility of the Metropolitan Police Service
(MPS) to implement the recommendations. I am aware that the MPS has undertaken
considerable work both on the Commission’s recommendations and enhancing its
response to those experiencing mental ill health.

Many of the issues raised in the report have wider national applicability and
the Home Office has worked jointly with the Department of Health, police
and local health partners on a wide range of measures to improve the way in
which those experiencing a mental health crisis can be assisted. These include
the introduction of the Crisis Care Concordat in February 2014 now being
implemented in all local areas and which defines the roles and responsibilities
of local partners in respect of those experiencing mental ill health thereby
improving the speed and effectiveness of their responses. They also include
the roll out of Liaison and Diversion schemes in police custody and the courts,
which from April this year will cover 50% of the population of England; street triage
schemes which have reduced by around a quarter the number of police arrests
under section 136 of the mental health act and reduced the frequency of use of
police cells as places of safety for those so detained; and the launch of an
innovative pilot of an alternative place of safety in Sussex to increase local
capacity.

The Home Office and Department of Health recently jointly reviewed the
operation of Mental Health Act powers and the resulting report published in
December 2014 made clear our intention to amend relevant legislation, including
making it unlawful to use police cells as places of safety for those under 18.

In addition, the Home Secretary commissioned a further inspection by Her
Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary of the treatment of
vulnerable people in police custody (which reported on 10 March). In October,
the Home Secretary announced a review of police data on the use of powers under
the Mental Health Act and the use of force to improve our knowledge of, and
the transparency of, police actions in respect of the mentally ill.

The College of Policing is conducting a thorough review of relevant training,
and work is underway to transfer custody health care commissioning from the
police to NHS England from next year.