Just over twenty thousand people (20,038) were subject to the act in England on March 31 2011, a rise of 991 since March 31 2010 according to the latest report, which looks at those formally detained in hospital or supervised with a community treatment order.

The figures suggest that this is due to a larger number of people being supervised under community treatment orders.

The report also shows that formal admissions to hospital fell slightly compared to the previous year. In 2010/11, there were 30,092 formal admissions, a 2.2 per cent decrease compared to 2009/10 (30,774). The report suggests this slight reduction could be linked to the use of CTOs.