Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals on the prison estate are serving sentences for protest-related offences under (a) section (i) 12 and (ii) 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, as amended by section 75 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, (b) each of sections 78 to 80 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and (c) (i) each of sections 1 to 7, (ii) section 9 and (iii) section 27 of the Public Order Act 2023.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The information requested can be found in the table attached.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many prosecutions for protest-related offences the Crown Prosecution Service has completed under (a) section (i) 12 and (ii) 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, as amended by section 75 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, (b) each of sections 78 to 80 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and (c) (i) each of sections 1 to 7, (ii) section 9 and (iii) section 27 of the Public Order Act 2023; of those prosecutions, how many and what proportion resulted in (1) a conviction, (2) imprisonment and (3) a financial penalty; and what the average (x) prison sentence and (y) financial penalty was in such cases.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds data on the number of prosecutions where a charge has been authorised and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts for specific offences.
It is important to note that CPS offences data is only extracted into the Case Management Information System once the prosecution case has been finalised, this means that the following offence data only relates to completed prosecutions and not any ongoing prosecutions.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSCA) came into effect in April 2022, amending sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.
The below table provides details of the number of offences charged under these amended sections as well as offences under section 78 PCSCA and section 137 of the Highways Act 1980 (as amended by section 80 PCSCA). To date, there have been no offences charged under section 14ZA(10) of the Public Order Act 1986 (inserted by section 79 PCSCA), where the proceedings have been completed.
| 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 Q1 |
s12 Public Order Act 1986 | 3 | 163 | 1 |
s14 Public Order Act 1986 | 59 | 35 | 26 |
s78 Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 | 52 | 209 | 48 |
s137 Highways Act 1980 | 706 | 806 | 162 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System |
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The Public Order Act 2023 came into effect in May 2023. The table below provides details of the number of offences charged under sections 1, 2, and 7 of the Act. To date, there have been no offences charged under sections 3 to 6, 9 or 27 of the Act where the proceedings have been completed.
| 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 Q1 |
s1 Public Order Act 2023 | 16 | 13 |
s2 Public Order Act 2023 | 4 | 5 |
s7 Public Order Act 2023 | 6 | 0 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System |
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The CPS does not hold data in relation to the outcome of specific offences. Therefore, I am unable to provide an answer to those parts of your question that relate to the proportion of prosecutions for these offences that resulted a conviction, imprisonment and/or financial penalty.