Public Order Offences: Arrests and Convictions
(asked on 11th September 2025) - View Source
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals have been (1) arrested, (2) charged, and (3) convicted, under (a) section 137 of the Highways Act 1980, (b) section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986, (c) section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, (d) section 29B of the Public Order Act 1986, and (e) section 9(1) of the Public Order Act 2023, in each year since 2019.
Management information held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) shows the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced that were finalised between 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2025.
| 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
Highways Act 1980 { 137(1) } | 270 | 445 | 412 | 728 | 806 | 435 |
Public Order Act 1986 { 29B(1) and 29L(3) } | 6 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 31 | 30 |
Public Order Act 1986 { 4A(1) and (5) } | 10,490 | 10,349 | 12,212 | 11,029 | 11,161 | 11,876 |
Public Order Act 1986 { 5(1) and (6) } | 8,917 | 8,114 | 8,913 | 7,940 | 7,473 | 7,371 |
Public Order Act 2023 { 9(1) and (3) } | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System | ||||||
The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. The CPS does not hold data showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
Requests for data on arrests should be directed to the Home Office as the lead government department for the police.