Children in mental health crisis still being held in police cells, government reveals
Joe Lepper
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Dozens of children and young people were detained in police cells under the Mental Health Act in the past year, the government has revealed.
In an answer to a parliamentary question, the minister for NHS productivity Lord Prior of Brampton said there were 145 cases where under-18s were held at police stations in 2014/15 because of concerns over their mental health, despite a pledge made by Home Secretary Theresa May in December 2014 to put an end to the practice.
However, the latest figures represent a 38.5 per cent drop on the 236 children detained under the act in 2013/14, and a 55 per cent fall since 2011/12. They are also lower than figures from the National Police Chiefs Councils in July.
A Home Office spokeswoman said that a further announcement is expected later this year on how a ban will be enforced in law. After the election, May also pledged to provide £15m in funding to boost alternative places of safety for young people in health settings.
In his parliamentary answer, Lord Brampton said the creation of the Crisis Care Concordat in February 2014, brought into improve the treatment of those suffering a mental health crisis, has been a key factor in the reduction in the use of police cells for children.
He said: “All localities signed up to the principles of the concordat before the end of 2014. Detailed action plans are now in place across England setting out how local partners will work together to improve service responses for people in crisis.”
He added that the Department of Health, NHS England and the charity Mind “continue to work with local areas to strengthen and improve their local concordat action plans”.
Earlier this year, the Commons home affairs select committee criticised the continued use of police cells for children and young people experiencing a mental health crisis. It called on the government to do more to ensure police forces stop the practice and encourage local commissioners to increase the number of alternative places of safety.
Sarah Brennan, chief executive of children's mental health charity YoungMinds, said the figures were worrying despite the percentage fall.
"This demonstrates that there is still a lack of appropriate health-based place of safety provision for these extremely vulnerable children who need specialist care and support," she said. "It is totally inappropriate for children and young people who are facing a mental health crisis to be placed in police cells because there is no alternative.
"We welcome recent announcements on funding to improve access to health-based places of safety and a change in the law around the use of police cells in mental health crisis. However, we urge that creating this provision is prioritised immediately so that we end the use of police cells when a young person is experiencing a mental health crisis once and for all."
Figures released last year showed that of the 161 places of safety in health settings, 35 per cent did not accept young people under the age of 16. Within the Avon area, there were no health-based places of safety for those under 16 in crisis.
