Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to identify suitable long-term placements for people who are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 who could live in the community with additional support.

Statutory guidance will be published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings soon. This will set out how National Health Service bodies and local authorities can work together to support the discharge process from hospital and ensure the right support in the community.

In July 2022, we published the Building the Right Support (BtRS) Action Plan, which sets out cross-government actions to strengthen community support and reduce reliance on mental health inpatient care for autistic people and people with a learning disability.  The BtRS Delivery Board is overseeing implementation of the Action Plan and includes representatives from across Government and public services who are working together to drive faster progress, identifying new actions and mitigations as appropriate.

This year, we are investing an additional £121 million to improve community support as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, including funding for children and young people’s keyworkers.

The draft Mental Health Bill, published in June 2022, proposes the introduction of a new power, Supervised Discharge, which aims is to stop criminal justice patients detained under the Mental Health Act with specialised support needs from being in hospital unnecessarily. This will provide a route for these individuals to continue their care in a more appropriate and therapeutic setting, while appropriately managing the risks they may pose.

Meanwhile HM Prison & Probation Service, acting on behalf of my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice, takes decisions on applications for section 17 leave for criminal justice patients following a robust risk-based assessment. This ensures affected patients do not need to remain in hospital beds and can continue their rehabilitation in a community-based setting which balances the need to protect the public, whilst recognising the rights of patients to receive treatment under the Mental Health Act.