Cheshire Police won't stop attending mental health calls immediately under the 'right care, right person' scheme but instead will work with health bosses and phase it in over two years.

The scheme aims to ensure that vulnerable people get the right support from the right emergency services. It also aims to free up police officers so they can go about policing duties.

But Evan Morris, chair of the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel, sought assurances the local constabulary wouldn't take the Met's approach, which is to implement the scheme at the end of next month.

Mr Morris also asked police commissioner John Dwyer: "Should any changes be introduced, could the commissioner explain how a 999 emergency call handler or police officer on the streets in Cheshire will triage such incidents in order to make a safe assessment to determine the most appropriate timely intervention or response?"

Evan Morris, chair of Cheshire Police & Crime Panel (CWAC)

Mr Dwyer told the panel meeting: "I think the Metropolitan Police said they're going to start it straightaway. In Cheshire there are existing partnership working arrangements with other agencies and the right care, right person approach is being implemented in three phases, ending in the summer of 2025, so this is a gradual drift into the full package."

He said call handlers will gather information using a specified question set to make effective decisions about threat, harm, risk and vulnerability.

"This is an approach already used by call handlers in relation to other reports to the police and it's an extension of the existing approach to decision-making and risk management," said Mr Dwyer.

He added police officers spend a lot of time dealing with calls related to mental health issues, and, unless the person has committed a crime, they aren't police matters at all.

He insisted the scheme would be adopted in a measured way.

"It has to be a staged development because, clearly, they've not got the resources because they've not been doing it…. so that's why we're prepared to spend the next two years moving into the full model," he said.