Mental Health Bill [HL]

If only I had a magic wand that could solve this problem. In fact, I have every sympathy with the points that have been raised. There is no question but that a police station is not an ideal place in which to detain a mentally ill person awaiting assessment, and that, of course, hospital-based facilities would be much more appropriate. The issue that the Government have to deal with is that there may be occasions when a police station is the only available facility and when it is necessary, in some circumstances, to detain a person there for longer than 24 hours. For example, it may be impossible for a doctor and an approved mental health professional to get to the police station to examine the patient and interview him within that time, perhaps in a rural area. The person who is detained may be extremely agitated or be behaving aggressively or violently, and it might be necessary to take some time before an assessment can be made. The patient may not be co-operative. It may be difficult to get details of their identity and their family and friends. That is why we believe that sometimes it may be difficult to complete these things within 24 hours, particularly if the person is received at the police station late at night. I understand that my answer will be frustrating for noble Lords. They may be tired of me talking about the development of good practice, but that is one answer to this problem. There are areas where there is adequate alternative provision. For example, the development of hospital-based facilities is reasonably advanced in some parts of the country. I endorse the Metropolitan Police policy whereby police stations are used only as a last resort. That approach is appropriate and is the kind of good practice that we want to develop. I would bring some comfort to the noble Earl by saying that we are moving forward in facilitating that good practice. From April 2006, we have made available a capital package of £130 million for the improvement of the mental health estate—in particular, for the development of hospital-based places of safety. This money will facilitate an increase in hospital-based safety facilities and will reduce the reliance on police stations. We will enforce this in the code of practice that will accompany the amended Mental Health Act. The current code states that police cells should not generally be used. We plan to emphasise in the new version of the code that police stations should be used only as a last resort—for example, if nowhere more suitable is immediately available—and that assessments should be completed as soon as possible. At the end of the day, we need to retain the ability to use police stations if necessary, and we have problems with the sort of test that the noble Earl has suggested by stipulating exceptional circumstances, which may well be over-restrictive. I was not aware of the ambiguity in the law that he suggested, and I would be happy to take that issue away and look at it.