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Date Responded 23 March 2020

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

For each of the last 5 calendar years - 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

  1. how many calls has your police force received where "mental health" was flagged and/or cited as a factor
  2. how many times in the last five calendar years has section 136 of the Mental Health Act been used to detain a member of the public?
  3. Please provide an estimate of money spent dealing with mental health-related calls and cases

In Response:

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with both the Finance and Corporate Development departments of Northumbria Police.  I can confirm that the information you have requested is held, in part, by Northumbria Police.

I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows, however the following should be noted and considered when reviewing the information:

  • In April 2019, the method the force used to define mental health related incidents was altered.  Prior to this date, such incidents may have been under-reported.  This should explain the notable increase in such incidents in 2019.

Bearing the above in mind, please see the following:

1.

Year

Calls

2015

7,615

2016

7,079

2017

6,927

2018

7,658

2019

18,514

 

2.

Year

Detentions

2015

264

2016

129

2017

161

2018

167

2019

163

 

3. No information held.  This information is not recorded separately.

 

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