Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether police forces receive training on methods of removing those who obstruct public highways and thoroughfares.

The actions being taken by the Insulate Britain (IB) group to block the M25 have caused major upheaval and disruption to the public. That is why we intend to use the PCSC Bill to increase the maximum penalty for obstruction of a highway from the current £1,000 fine to an unlimited fine, six months’ imprisonment, or both.

The police have extensive training programmes for dealing with public order, this includes tactics for removing those who are obstructing public highways and thoroughfares.

Each public order trained officer receives a concentrated training refresher at least once a year. Police forces have specialist “protester removal teams” who are trained to quickly and effectively remove those who are obstructing public highways and thoroughfares, and who will receive even more regular training.

Individual training packages are determined by police forces with guidance provided by the college of policing.