Mental health in policing and police custody
Mental health in policing and police custody
Inquiry5
The
Health, Social Care and Sport
Committee held a short inquiry into mental
health in policing and police custody, to assess how effectively police forces
in Wales are working with partners to prevent vulnerable people with mental
health problems going into police custody, and how effectively police forces in
Wales identify and respond to those detained in police custody.
While
overall responsibility for policing is non-devolved, the police respond to a
wide range of possible situations, including safeguarding vulnerable people
suffering from mental health problems. This being the case, it is of paramount
importance that police officers and staff – whether on the front line or in
custody, work in partnership with devolved agencies such as health and social
services to ensure the needs of these vulnerable people are met.
As
part of its work on mental health
inequalities, the Sixth Senedd Health and Social Care Committee wrote
to the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing on 11 July 2022 to seek
an update on the Fifth Senedd Committee’s recommendations. The Ministers
responded on 31 January 2023.
Background
During
two Senedd Committee
inquiries (the Emotional and Mental Health of
Children and Young People
and Suicide Prevention), Members of the Senedd
heard from police representatives that an increasing amount of police resource
is being used on managing mental health crises.
Mental health and policing
The
Mental
Health Crisis Care Concordat is a national agreement
between health, criminal justice and social care agencies that sets out how
services and agencies involved in the care and support of people in a mental
health crisis will work together to provide the necessary support. It includes
arrangements for more joint work and better information sharing between
agencies.
Police custody
Inspections of police custody in
Wales have generally found the provision of healthcare to be good. There is
also evidence from joint inspections of police custody that partnership working
is improving, including joint work to address concerns about people detained
under section 136 of the Mental Health Act being taken into custody.
Section
136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 enables a police officer to remove, from a
public place, someone who they believe to be suffering from a mental disorder
and in need of immediate care and control, and take them to a place of safety –
for example, a health or social care facility. In exceptional circumstances
(for example if the person’s behaviour would pose an unmanageably high risk to
others), the place of safety may be police custody. Section 136 also states
that the purpose of detention is to enable the person to be assessed by a
doctor and an approved mental health professional (for example a specially
trained social worker or nurse), and for the making of any necessary
arrangements for treatment or care.
What
we know from inspection reports is that some people are being held in custody
because they are a risk to themselves or others, not because they have committed
a crime. Many of these cases involve children, people with mental health
problems, or older people suffering from dementia. The police are almost
entirely dependent on other agencies – primarily health and social services –
to provide services that divert people with vulnerabilities away from custody,
or to provide safeguards when vulnerable people are in custody (such as
healthcare, or alternative accommodation for children).
Evidence sessions
Evidence session |
Date, Agenda and Minutes |
Transcript |
Video |
1. Healthcare
Inspectorate Wales Kate Chamberlain,
Chief Executive, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales Rhys Jones, Head of
Escalation and Enforcement, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales |
|||
2. National Chief
Police Council Assistant Chief
Constable Jonathon Drake, Regional Lead for the National Chief Police Council |
|||
3. Representatives
of Local Health Boards Richard Jones, Head
of Clinical Innovation and Strategy, Hywel Dda University Health Board Ian Wile, Director
of Operations for Mental Health, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Philip Lewis, Head
of Mental Health Nursing, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board Dr Chris O’Connor,
Consultant Clinical Psychologist and the Divisional Director for Mental
Health and Learning Disabilities, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board |
|||
4. Chair of the
Mental Health Crisis Care Concordant Assurance Group Sara
Moseley, Chair of the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat Assurance Group |
|||
5. Welsh Government Vaughan
Gething AM, Minister for Health and Social Services Joanna
Jordan, Director of Mental Health, NHS Governance & Corporate Services,
Welsh Government Matt
Downton, Head of Mental Health and Vulnerable Groups, Welsh Government |
Business type: Committee Inquiry
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: Complete
First published: 13/02/2019
Documents
- Reports
- Report - Mental health in policing and police custody PDF 749 KB
- Welsh Government Response - 10 December 2019 PDF 2 MB
- Correspondence
- Letter from Chair of Health, Social Care and Sport Committee to Chair of Children, Young People and Education Committee - 11 February 2018 PDF 100 KB
- Additional information from the National Police Chiefs Council - 4 April 2019 PDF 214 KB View as HTML (6) 6 KB
- Additional information from Welsh Government - 16 May 2019 PDF 571 KB
Consultations
- Mental health in policing and police custody (completed)