The liaison and diversion programme plays an important role in referring offenders who are identified with having mental health, learning disabilities, substance misuse or other vulnerabilities to an appropriate treatment or support service.
These services are being used to help both children and adults in crisis, when they first come into contact with the youth and adult criminal justice systems. They now cover 40 per cent of the prison population and this may be extended to the whole prison population by the end of the year, subject to the evaluation of pilot schemes.
These are being funded by the Department of Health. They offer street triage and nine police forces and 25 police authorities have now taken this up with encouraging results. NHS England has rolled out a national standard service specification and operating model serving 50 per cent of the population. I hope to see it cover the whole population by 2017-18.
I support the introduction of the Crisis Care Concordat, an agreement between the police and the NHS. I welcome the fact that between 2012/13 and 2013/14 there was a 24 per cent reduction in people sectioned under the Mental Health Act being taken to police stations.
More generally, tackling poor mental health in Britain must be a priority, which is why I am pleased that we have taken steps to ensure that mental health conditions are treated with the same importance as physical health. The Government has committed £450m to improve access to psychological therapies, including depression, for adults, children and young people.
By Patrick McLoughlin on October 12, 2015