Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2019 to Question 205783, what discussions his Department has had with the Metropolitan Police Service the (a) advantages and (b) disadvantages of police estimates being made of crowd numbers at large demonstrations; and what explanation has been given for discontinuing that practice.

The Home Office routinely discusses matters relating to demonstrations with the Metropolitan Police Service.

The management of demonstrations and whether to collect information on the number of individuals that attend demonstrations is an operational matter for the police.