Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Crime and Policing Bill on the number of young people arrested at protests.

This government is committed to upholding the right to peaceful protest as well as balancing the need to protect the life of a community in the development of public order legislation. The right to peaceful protest is a vital part of our democracy, and people are free to gather and express their views, provided they do so within the law.

The government has published a human rights memorandum on the measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, here: ECHRMemo.pdf

The memorandum provides a detailed consideration of each provision’s compatibility with Convention rights.

An equalities impact assessment for these measures in the Bill will be published in due course, this will assess the potential impact of the measures on those with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, including age.