Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I seem to be forever destined to disappoint the noble Earl, Lord Howe, even when I bring forward government amendments in response to issues that he raised at previous stages of the Bill. Of course, I recognise that there is a great deal of concern about the use of police cells for the detention of mentally ill people. As I said in Committee, I accept that a police station is not an ideal place in which to detain such a person. I also accept that 72 hours may seem to some people to be a long time. It should be borne in mind that that is an upper limit. Recently published emerging evidence from a study being undertaken by the Independent Police Complaints Commission suggests that the average amount of time in police custody under Section 136 is 10 hours and that the majority of detainees leave police custody within 18 hours. That is reassuring, although from this evidence it is clear that some people need to be detained for longer than 24 hours. I well understand why the noble Earl has returned to this matter, but there are some issues of practicality. For example, in the case of a person removed from a public place, it would require the police and local agencies to try to identify an appropriate place of safety other than a police station. If none is available, it would be necessary to convey the person to a police station and to arrange for the person to be examined and interviewed urgently at the police station. If that is not possible, it would be necessary to transfer him to another place of safety and to arrange for him to be interviewed and examined there. It may not be possible to do all that within 24 hours. As I said in Committee, I do not think that imposing statutory restrictions is the way to address the concerns of the noble Earl. The right way forward is to try to limit the use of police stations by facilitating good practice. The Government are allocating a considerable amount of money to the NHS in England to improve the NHS estate and £130 million is being made available this year and next year. That money will help to facilitate an increase in hospital-based places of safety and improvement in existing facilities. Therefore, it will help to reduce reliance on police stations. I also re-emphasise that we are planning to reinforce our approach to encouraging good practice by strengthening the guidance in the new code of practice for England along the lines of the noble Earl's amendment. The current code states that police stations should not generally be used. In the revised version of the code, we intend to stress that police stations should be used only as a last resort; for example, only if nowhere more suitable is immediately available and even then only if such use is compatible with local agreements on the use of places of safety. We also intend to stress in the revised code that assessment should be completed as soon as possible. Of course, we shall consult widely on that. I understand that similar arrangements will be made for the code of practice in Wales. There is clearly more that we can do. The amendments that I have tabled also deal with an issue that was raised in Committee—a very good issue—and we now amend the Bill so that patients can be moved from one place of safety to another. Clearly, it is not appropriate for vulnerable, mentally ill people to have to remain at, say, a police station, so that a doctor and an approved mental health professional can assess and interview when a more suitable setting is available. On monitoring and the views of the Police Federation, my right honourable friend Mrs Rosie Winterton, the Minister responsible, recently met with representatives of the federation. There was a good, useful and constructive discussion. We are not convinced that there is a need to require the Home Secretary to monitor and report on the use of police stations as a place of safety. However, I shall take the more general issue of monitoring back to see what can be done. As the noble Earl will know, we intend to create a new single regulator in England to replace the Mental Health Act Commission, the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection. We will want to look at monitoring responsibility. In that context, I certainly undertake to look at the issues that the noble Earl has raised.