§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has evaluated regarding the role of paramedics currently involved in conveying people to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983; and what training will be provided to enable the police to convey people appropriately. [100780]
§ Mr. HuttonWe know of no research on the role of paramedics involved in conveying people to hospital under the Mental Health Act. It is for individual chief constables to consider their forces' training needs in specific areas of work. National police training includes some formal training on mental illness, supplemented by practical role play exercises, during the course of the fifteen-week residential phase of the probationer training programme undertaken by all recruits to police forces other than the Metropolitan Police (which has its own training programme, including training on mental illness).
§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will encourage other police forces to adopt the arrangements which exist between the Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance Service regarding the transport to hospital of people with excited delirium and people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. [100781]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice encourages the development of local protocols by all the agencies involved in the operation of section 136 of the Mental Health Act. This section gives the police power to remove to a place of safety mentally disordered people found in a place to which the public have access and who are considered to be in immediate need of care or control. I understand that, in accordance with the Code of Practice, the Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance Service are currently discussing a draft procedure to be followed on the transport to hospital of people who have been arrested under s136 of the Act. Once finalised, this will supplement existing guidance on admitting mentally ill patients to hospital and I would expect that both authorities would be willing to make it available to other organisations with an interest in these matters.