Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2017 to Question 3125, on mental illness: police custody, when the 2016-17 data on police cells being used as a place of safety will be made available.

The Home Office has collected data from police forces on the number of persons detained under section 135 and section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 on a mandatory basis since April 2016. The data collection also requires forces to supply data on the number of times police custody has been used as a place of safety following a detention under the Mental Health Act, broken down by whether the person being detained is under 18 years of age, or 18 years and older.

The data covering the 2016/17 time period is due to be published in the next edition of the ‘Police powers, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which is scheduled for release in the autumn, and will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales