PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Ethnic Groups (14 September 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Black people are in psychiatric custody; how long they have been in psychiatric custody; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for the use of that custody.

Asked by:
Marsha De Cordova (Labour)

In 2018/19 there were 5,137 people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 whose ethnicity was recorded as Black or Black British. Analysis of length of stay and length of detention has not yet been undertaken. This analysis is complex and as such would exceed the proportionate costs available to answer this question.

Detentions are made under the Mental Health Act 1983 to enable the treatment of patients who require care in hospital for their mental health and who may otherwise present a risk to themselves or others. The operation of the Mental Health Act 1983 is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, which produces an annual report, Monitoring the Mental Health Act, the most recent edition of which is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/major-report/monitoring-mental-health-act-201819

Answered by:
Ms Nadine Dorries (Conservative)
23 September 2020