Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many arrests have been made following pitch invasions in each year since 2010.

The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests in England and Wales in the ‘Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales’ Official Statistics publication. The latest data cover the 2021 to 2022 football season and are available here: Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2021 to 2022 season - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests for pitch incursion since the 2010 to 2011 season are published in tables 1 and 5 of the accompanying data tables.

There were 516 new banning orders issued in the 2021 to 2022 football season, down by 46% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

There were 313 football-related arrests for pitch incursion in the 2021 to 2022 football season, up by 30% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

Data on arrests for the offence of entering the playing area at a designated football match that have led to the imposition of football banning orders is not held. A football banning order is a preventative measure which is not issued as part of a sentence, or solely based on an individual’s conviction offence. In deciding whether to make a banning order, a court may consider a range of prosecution evidence in support of a banning order application.