Proposed Legislation to Prohibit Police Cell Detentions for Mental Health Reasons

Government plans for England and Wales indicate that police will no longer be authorized to hold individuals in police cells when they are detained for mental health reasons. Currently, officers are permitted to use cells as a “place of safety” for up to 24 hours, allowing those requiring immediate care to be assessed by a doctor. The new legislation will also introduce additional rights for individuals receiving treatment, with the aim of modernizing mental health laws that have been in place for decades. Charities have generally welcomed these changes, while simultaneously emphasizing the need for increased funding for mental health services. Health Secretary Wes Streeting commented that the “outdated” system required modifications to bring it “in line with the 21st Century.” Individuals can be detained under the Mental Health Act, or “sectioned,” for their own safety or the safety of others. The complete prohibition of police cells for detentions was initially proposed in draft legislation published under Boris Johnson’s government, following a comprehensive review of mental health laws released in 2018. However, despite undergoing extensive scrutiny by MPs, that draft law was not introduced to Parliament by the time of July’s election. Under current law, individuals whom police believe are suffering from a mental disorder and are in “immediate need of care or control” can be detained for examination and potential treatment. Last year, 34,685 people were detained under these circumstances, with the majority being taken to health settings such as hospital A&E departments. Approximately 314 detentions, representing about 1%, involved a police cell, a proportion that has decreased from around 4% in 2017, when restrictions on their use were tightened. Those detained in a police cell can typically be held for a maximum of 24 hours and must be assessed by both a social worker and a doctor during that period. A cross-party committee of MPs, which scrutinized the previous proposals, had welcomed the ban on the use of police cells but had also called for an increase in appropriate places to detain people in healthcare settings alongside the change. In its election manifesto, Labour had pledged to reform mental health legislation, describing existing laws, which were drawn up in the 1980s, as “woefully out of date.” The party had argued that the current system discriminates against black people, who are more likely to be detained according to official statistics, and had also criticized how the system treated autistic people and people with learning disabilities. Labour’s new Mental Health Bill, scheduled for publication on Wednesday, will introduce a 28-day limit on the duration autistic people and people with learning disabilities can be detained, unless they have a co-occurring mental health condition. It will also grant individuals enhanced rights to select a person to represent their interests and will impose additional requirements on clinicians to consult with people close to patients about their care. Changes are also expected for the rules governing community treatment orders, which impose specific monitoring conditions on detained people discharged from hospital. The health department stated that the use of these orders would be made more “proportionate,” though it did not provide specific details. The bill is largely expected to mirror proposals included in the draft Tory law, including raising the threshold for detaining people and requiring a realistic prospect that suggested treatment would offer a therapeutic benefit. One area where the bill is expected to differ is in granting patients the right to create a document outlining their treatment preferences if they become unwell. The Conservative government had previously rejected making this a legal right, arguing that its preference was to maintain flexibility in the system and avoid creating a hierarchy of different documents. Labour has previously stated that the changes in the bill would take a number of years to implement fully, to allow time to “recruit and train more clinical and judicial staff.” The National Autistic Society welcomed the bill as an opportunity to end the “human rights scandal” of inappropriate detention. Mental health charity Mind also stated that the bill would move England and Wales a “step closer to a more progressive mental health system,” while adding that “proper funding” would be necessary to ease the “mental health emergency.”