Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) sitting MPs, (b) former MPs, (c) political activists and (d) political organisations have had their information collected by the Research, Information and Communication Unit since its formation.

RICU provides analysis on terrorist and extremist use of propaganda and exploitation of the internet to inform the UK's counter-terrorism system. RICU supports ministers, policy makers and our partners by providing insight and analysis into online terrorist activity, emerging risks and radicalisation trends.

To support this objective RICU undertakes open-source monitoring to better understand the media, online and communications environment as it relates to terrorism and extremism. This open-source monitoring identifies a range of material that is shared and discussed within these spaces, including topics or media that terrorist and extremist groups are seeking to exploit.

All RICU data collection and analysis complies with relevant legislation. Ministers have authorised RICU’s work since it was established in 2007, and through subsequent updates to the CONTEST strategy (in 2011, 2018 and 2023) and regularly receive RICU outputs.

The work of RICU has been crucial to the delivery of Prevent and has helped to position the UK at the forefront of the battle against terrorist propaganda, particularly online terrorist content.