Police: Demonstrations

(asked on 1st September 2023) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make a comparative estimate of the number of the times that the police have used their powers under (a) the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 and (b) the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and the Terrorism Act 2000 to place restrictions on protests.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 11th September 2023

We do not currently collect data on the uses of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and the Terrorism Act 2000 to place restrictions on certain protests.

However, as part of the 2023-24 Annual Data Requirement (ADR), the Home Office introduced a new mandatory requirement for police forces in England and Wales to record data on the use of section 12, 14 and 14ZA under the Public Order Act 1986 (1986 Act). The ADR also included a request for retrospective data on the use of these powers for the period of 28 June 2022 to 31 March 2023.

As part of this data collection, information is being requested on: the date and time of the protest; the conditions imposed; the triggers; the theme of the protests/assembly; demographic information such as age, sex and ethnicity; the level of authorisation and the number of resultant arrests.

Data will be collected from police forces in due course and the intention is to publish this data in the Summer of 2024. As is usual for all data collections, Home Office analysts will assess the quality of the data collected before making a decision on which information will be included for publication on GOV.UK.

The section 12, 14, and 14ZA ADR was developed in collaboration with National Police Coordination Centre, who are overseen by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

In addition, the Home Office will prepare and publish a report on the operation of sections 12, 14, and 14ZA of the 1986 Act as amended by sections 73, 74, and 79 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This will be published and laid before Parliament by 28 June 2024.

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