Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the potential impact of reducing police callouts for people with mental ill health on the NHS.

The National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person was published on 26 July 2023. The Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) approach is designed to end inappropriate police involvement in cases where people have health and/or social care needs, and to ensure that people receive support from the right person, with the right skills, training, and experience to best meet their needs.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Home Office are monitoring the impact of the National Partnership Agreement (NPA) on mental health and policing. All integrated care boards and local authorities, together with their partners in the police and voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, have been asked to provide updates about their progress in producing plans for implementing the RCRP approach and any resource requirements to achieve this.

DHSC and the Home Office are encouraging local areas to monitor the rollout of RCRP, to understand the impact on patients and the NHS and to mitigate against risks. I also meet regularly with the Minister for Mental Health to discuss policing and mental health, in particular the implementation of the RCRP approach.

In addition, the Government is expanding mental health services to support people in crisis to receive the care they need, and to prevent them entering crisis in the first place.