GWENT’S new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has reaffirmed the message that his office will ensure vulnerable people experiencing a mental health crises receive appropriate care.

In his first week of office, and in support of Mental Health Awareness Week, Gwent's PCC Jeff Cuthbert said he supports the key principles outlined in the Wales Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat.

The joint agreement between the Welsh Government and 28 key organisations and partners in Wales, aims to help reduce the number of people detained inappropriately in police cells.

The concordat sets out standards of care people should expect if they experience a mental health crisis and details of how emergency services should respond.

Mr Cuthbert said: “I want to reaffirm the commitment of this office to continue to work with the Welsh Government and our partners in the community to improve the care and support for people experiencing or at risk of mental health crisis.

“People in mental health crisis are some of the most vulnerable members of our community and I am committed to working with our partners to continue to improve our response to them.”

Shaped by the voices of people with mental health problems, the crisis care pact seeks to ensure access to mental health professionals and develop “new” places of safety and alternatives to in-patient care.

Key points include ceasing to use police custody suites as a place of safety and only using police vehicles to transport violent individuals or to transport people between NHS facilities.

Under this approach, there is said to have been a 19 per cent reduction of people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act (2015) – a drop from 313 in 2014 to 254 in 2015.

The number of people detained within a custody suite for their safety in Gwent has also halved since 2013, with the concordat seeking to ensure people are taken to a health facility for assessment.

During 2016 the trend continues with 71 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of young people now reported to be detained under section 136 in a health setting.