Numbers of Children Detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983
Keywords
Children, Detained, Mental, Health, Detentions, Place, Safety, Accident, Emergency, Paediatric, Custody, Investigations.
Publication Number
PUB 1443
FOI Reference Number
16636
Request Title
Numbers of Children Detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983
Date Range
March 2019 and December 2021
Information Requested
I am emailing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I am requesting:
1. For each month between and including March 2019 and December 2021, please provide the number of detentions of children (under 18) detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983
2. The total number of individual children detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act during the following periods:
a. 28/02/2019 to 29/02/2020
b. 01/03/2020 to 01/03/2021
3. In reference to question (1), for each detention can you provide:
a. The month and year of the detention (MM/YYYY)
b. Did the detention take place outside ‘working hours’ (weekends and 5pm-9am weekdays)?
c. The age of the child (broken down into the following bands to avoid potential identification):
i. 0-5
ii. 5-11
iii. 12-15
iv. 16-17
d. The gender of the child
e. The reason for detention (suicidality, self-harm, etc.)
f. Was it a detention of a child looked after by a local authority? (if known)
g. Where did the detention take place:
h. Accident and emergency department
ii. A paediatric ward
iii. A “place of safety” at a mental health trust
iv. Other
i. For how long was the person detained by a police officer?
Disclosure with Exemptions
Part Disclosure with Section 12 Exemption
Information Correct as at
19 May 2022
Date of Disclosure
30 May 2022
Related Documents/Links
FOI 16636 Response
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request, however, the obligation of Section 1(1)(b) cannot be met as Essex Police does not hold all the information requested in a format that allows it to be retrieved within the time and cost limits of FOI.
When responding to a request for information under the terms of the FOIA, a public authority is not obliged to provide information if the authority estimates that the cost of the retrieval of the information requested would be in excess of £450 (equivalent to 18 hours work). The costs criteria relates to a request in its entirety, which means that if we cannot retrieve all of the information requested within the costs limit, we are not obliged to retrieve any of the information requested.
Section 12(1) of the FOIA states that a public authority is not obliged to:
“…comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The following explanation outlines the difficulty Essex Police has in answering your request:
In relation to questions 3e to 3g, Essex Police are unable to accurately extract the level of detail in relation to your request for the requested period from our current systems. Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not primarily for the production of statistical information for FOI responses. Essex Police no longer take anyone into custody as a place of safety. As a result of this we are now recording Section 136 as an Investigation Type. Any custody measures are, therefore, in relation to the whole detention process so data cannot be provided reliably for questions 3e to 3g. This request would entail manually reviewing each investigation one by one to establish the information if held. To establish if information is held would, therefore, exceed the time and cost limits under the FOIA and would qualify as the creation of data as the results cannot be processed by means of purely sorting or filtering data sources or running a database query tool. There is no requirement under the act to create data purely to answer FOI requests.
Consequently, and to this extent, Essex Police are exempt from the duty to provide information you have requested under the provisions of Section 12(1) of the FOIA. Therefore, and in accordance with Section 17(1) of the FOIA, this communication must act as a refusal notice to provide all of the information that could be interpreted as being captured by this part of your request.
Having said that and in an effort to assist, although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the FOIA, Essex Police can confirm the following:
Caveats:
The data is correct as at 19/05/2022.
The data provided is Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded.
Essex Police no longer take anyone into custody as a place of safety, therefore, this information cannot be extracted from Force systems. There are a small number of cases where someone is detained under Section 136 whilst in custody for another matter. Any custody measures are, therefore, in relation to the whole detention process so data cannot be provided reliably for questions 3e to 3g.
There is an issue with inconsistency in recording of the persons role. Suspects / Involved Party / Victim are the most used for this and have been included below.
1. For each month between and including March 2019 and December 2021, please provide the number of detentions of children (under 18) detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
The total number of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded between March 2019 and December 2021 is 159.
2. The total number of individual children detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act during the following periods:
a. 28/02/2019 to 29/02/2020
The total number of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded between 28/02/2019 and 29/02/2020 is 56.
b. 01/03/2020 to 01/03/2021
The total number of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded between 01/03/2020 to 01/03/2021 is 46.
3. In reference to question (1), for each detention can you provide:
a. The month and year of the detention (MM/YYYY).
The month and year breakdowns of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded are listed below:
|
Month |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
|
Jan |
|
3 |
7 |
|
Feb |
|
6 |
5 |
|
Mar |
5 |
6 |
4 |
|
April |
3 |
3 |
1 |
|
May |
3 |
4 |
3 |
|
Jun |
7 |
1 |
7 |
|
July |
8 |
2 |
6 |
|
Aug |
4 |
6 |
8 |
|
Sept |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
Oct |
7 |
1 |
4 |
|
Nov |
3 |
3 |
6 |
|
Dec |
3 |
4 |
6 |
b. Did the detention take place outside ‘working hours’ (weekends and 5pm-9am weekdays)?
The total number of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded that took place outside working hours is 123.
c. The age of the child (broken down into the following bands to avoid potential identification).
The age group breakdowns of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded are listed below:
|
i. 0-5 |
5 |
|
ii. 6-11 |
6 |
|
iii. 12-15 |
56 |
|
iv. 16-17 |
92 |
|
Grand Total |
159 |
d. The gender of the child.
The gender breakdowns of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded are listed below:
|
Female |
101 |
|
Male |
56 |
|
Not Recorded |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
159 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
The Force Information Management Board chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable has oversight of the Force wide programme of work to improve the quality of Force data. This work has identified data quality leads in all key areas of the business including the Crime and Public Protection Command. Liaison between the Force Data Quality Team and the Crime and Public Protection Command lead for data quality will identify and resolve issues through a variety of mechanisms to ensure regular and appropriate supervisory oversight.
You may also find the below links of interest:
Mental Health Act 1983 (legislation.gov.uk)
How to access mental health services - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Mental health – detention | College of Policing
FOI Reference Number
17026
Request Title
Children Detained in Custody Under Section 136 of the Mental health Act 1983 2017-2022
Date Range
2017 to 2022
Information Requested
Initial Request
The number of children detained in police custody under section 136 of the Mental health Act 1983 from 2017-2022.
Please can I have this figure broken down by annual year. e.g. can you provide a figure for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (up until the date of receipt).
If you have the data, can you provide the average length of stay (in hours) of the children detained under section 136 in police custody for each annual year. e.g. 2017- average length of stay 3hours 2018- average length of stay 2hours.
If you have the data, can you provide the average age of the children in custody for each annual year. e.g. 2017 - average age 16 years old.
Clarification Received
I would like to clarify that when I say 'detained in police custody', I mean when the subject has been taken to an actual police custody facility.
Disclosure with Exemptions
Full Disclosure
Information Correct as at
19 May 2022
Date of Disclosure
30 May 2022
Related Documents/Links
FOI 17026 Response
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request, Essex Police can confirm in respect of Section 1(1)(b) the following data:
Caveats:
The data is correct as at 19 May 2022.
The data provided is Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded.
Essex Police no longer take anyone into custody as a place of safety, therefore, this information cannot be extracted from Force systems. There are a small number of cases where someone is detained under Section 136 whilst in custody for another matter. Any custody measures are, therefore, in relation to the whole detention process so length of stay cannot be determined for Section 136 Detentions.
There is an issue with inconsistency in recording of the persons role. Suspects / Involved Party / Victim are the most used for this and have been included below.
The number of children detained in Police custody under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 from 2017-2022. Please can I have this figure broken down by annual year. e.g. can you provide a figure for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (up until the date of receipt).
The total number of Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded are listed below:
|
Year |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
01 January to 16 May 2022 |
|
Total |
38 |
54 |
57 |
43 |
69 |
19 |
If you have the data, can you provide the average length of stay (in hours) of the children detained under Section 136 in Police custody for each annual year. e.g. 2017- average length of stay 3 hours 2018- average length of stay 2hours.
No information held. Essex Police do not record this data.
If you have the data, can you provide the average age of the children in custody for each annual year. e.g. 2017 - average age 16 years old.
The average ages for Section 136 Detention Investigations recorded are listed below:
|
Year |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
01 January to 16 May 2022 |
|
Average Age |
13 |
13 |
15 |
14 |
16 |
15 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
The Force Information Management Board chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable has oversight of the Force wide programme of work to improve the quality of Force data. This work has identified data quality leads in all key areas of the business including the Crime and Public Protection Command. Liaison between the Force Data Quality Team and the Crime and Public Protection Command lead for data quality will identify and resolve issues through a variety of mechanisms to ensure regular and appropriate supervisory oversight.
You may also find the below links of interest:
Mental Health Act 1983 (legislation.gov.uk)
How to access mental health services - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Mental health – detention | College of Policing