To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on aftercare under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last eight years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the change in the number of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983 on the overall costs of aftercare under section 117 of that Act.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of clinical commissioning group policies that detail formal agreements with local authorities on the division of funding each will deliver under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on aftercare delivered under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in the most recent year for which data is available.

Information on the costs of aftercare services provided under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 is a matter for individual local authorities and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and is not collected centrally.

The Government is concerned about rising numbers of detentions under the Act, which is why we requested an independent review, the final report of which was published earlier this month. The review’s report contains a number of recommendations on the administration of section 117 aftercare, including proposing national guidance on the division of funding between local authorities and CCGs.

The Government has made no assessment of local CCG policies on this matter. We will be considering these recommendations in detail before responding in due course. The report of the independent review is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/762206/MHA_reviewFINAL.pdf