Written question asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Earl Howe (Conservative) on Monday, 9 December 2013.
Children: Custody
- Question
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to end the practice of detaining in custody mentally ill children awaiting psychiatric assessment. [HL3755]
- Answer
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Police forces should work closely with local mental health professionals to ensure that people they deal with who have mental health difficulties receive a supportive response from the most appropriate agency. All services should work together to minimise the chance of children and young people with a mental illness ending up in a police cell.
Using police cells in this way should happen as little as possible and only where there are circumstances where it is unavoidable, or where the person's behaviour poses a risk that cannot be managed in any other way.
The forthcoming Mental Health Crisis Concordat will ask that localities all take steps to commission mental health services that meet the needs of children and young people, and it will specifically state that police custody should never be used as a place of safety just because health services are not available.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- HL3755; 750 c111WA
- Session
- 2013-14
- Subjects
- Children Mental illness Police custody
- Link
- View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2013-12-10 15:19:33 +0000
- URI
- http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Lords/2013-12-09/13120916000182
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Lords/2013-12-09/13120916000182
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Lords/2013-12-09/13120916000182