Government in Prevention of Terrorist Act usage farce

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 26th Oct 2005

Lord Greaves - asking the questions on the Prevention of Terrorism Act

Following on from the e-mail from Sussex Police to Northgate Councillor Gordon Seekings and other "opinion formers" in Sussex on the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (see news story "Threat to Civil Liberties" on this website 1 October); Liberal Democrats peer Lord Greaves asked the government how the Act had been used during Labour's Brighton Conference. The government have now given the answer - and it seems that they haven't a clue how it was used!

Gordon said "The answer makes it clear that the only information on the use of the Act is by police force area. Even then the answers, being contained in various annual financial reports and/or collated with other legislation, make it almost impossible to track down. This is especially so when you remember that the Sussex police area stretches all the way from Rye in the east to the outskirts of Fareham in the west, it also encompasses not just Brighton but Crawley and Gatwick."

Continuing Gordon said "It is obvious that the Act is not being used properly or you would not have some police forces reporting that they have never used it and others extensively. This becomes painfully clear when you realise that the Act, according to media reports, has been used to move train-spotters on from station platforms; a photographer questioned as to why he was taking photographs of a motorway and one lady for walking on a cycle track."

The full excerpt from Hansard is below:

24 Oct 2005 : Column WA165

Terrorism Act 2000: Labour Party Conference

Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many persons were stopped and searched under the provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 in Brighton and Hove during the period of the Labour Party conference in September; of these how many were (a) of Asian or other ethnic minority origin; (b) held for questioning or arrested for terrorism offences; and (c) held for questioning or arrested for other offences. [HL1647]

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Numbers of stops and searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 are not collected centrally below police force area level. Statistics on stop and search are available in two annual publications that can be accessed on the research, development and statistics area of the Home Office website. The Home Office statistical bulletin, Arrests for Notifiable Offences and the Operation of Certain Police Powers under PACE: England and Wales, details stops and searches under the Terrorism Act 2000, broken down by police force over financial years. The bulletin also shows subsequent arrests. The most recently available figures can be found on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/hosbpubsl.html. The document Publications under Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act; Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System details stop-searches under the Terrorism Act 2000 by ethnicity. Figures are collated by police force over financial years and they also show subsequent arrests under the Terrorism Act and other legislation. The most recently available figures can be found on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/s95race04.pdf.