Download FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0791

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0791/2013
In reply to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, dated 28/11/2013
1. How many times did police officer attend (e.g. how many detections) were noted as issues solely in line with the
Section 136 of Mental Health Act in each month in 2010/ 2011/ 2012 and 2013 up to November
2. How many people were detained in police custody solely under Section 136 of Mental Health Act in each month
in 2010/ 2011/ 2012 and 2013 up to November
3. What was the average time spent in custody for those detained in police custody under Section 136 of Mental
Health Act in each month in 2010/ 2011/ 2012 and 2013 up to November
4. a. How many NHS section 136 suites does the police force currently have available to them? b. How many
people can be held in each suite?
c. How many were available in 2010/ 2011/ 2012?
5. How many people were detained solely under Section 136 of Mental Health Act and held in suites/cells other
than NHS section 136 suites in each month in 2010/ 2011/ 2012 and 2013 up to November
Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 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”. For Police forces in the UK, the "appropriate limit" is considered to be up
to 18 hours of work on one request. This information is given in the Freedom of Information (Fees and
Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
It is estimated that it will take 87.7 hours to provide an answer to this request.
A search of our recorded incidents for the month of November 2013 for Section 136 of the Mental Health
Act revealed 27 incidents. The monthly search takes 4 minutes to complete, so for the 47 months you
have requested it would take 148 minutes to carry out our initial searches.
Each individual incident revealed would then need to be read manually to establish whether S136 was the
sole reason that the incident was raised. It is estimated that it would take an average of 4 minutes to read
each incident.
Therefore each month would take, 27 incidents x 4 minutes = 108 minutes. For 47 months, 108
x 47 = 5076 minutes plus the 188 minutes for the initial searches, 5076 minutes plus 188 minutes = 5264
minutes (87.7 hours)
Although excess cost removes the force’s obligation under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture
of goodwill, I have supplied information, relative to your request, that was retrieved or available before it
was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal
right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
In reply to Q2. Number of people detained soley under S136,
2010 = 166 persons, 2011 = 97 persons, 2012 = 105 persons, 2013(to 30/11/2013) =
76 persons
In reply to Q3. Average time spent in custody,
2010 = 663.5 minutes, 2011 = 536.7 minutes,
30/11/2013) = 598.5 minutes
2012 = 652.3 minutes,
2013(to
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