Policy paper

Management of terrorist offenders: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 factsheet

Updated 20 August 2022

1. What are we going to do?

We will give the police three new powers to manage the risk posed by terrorist offenders and terrorist risk offenders.

We will also make a number of changes to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in order to improve the management and supervision of terrorist and terrorist risk offenders.

These changes were recommended by Jonathan Hall QC in his independent review (PDF, 909KB) into MAPPA, conducted following the attack at Fishmongers’ Hall in November 2019. The government response is available here.

Police, Probation and other agencies will work closely together to ensure that the public is protected from the most dangerous offenders, while encouraging the rehabilitation of others into society.

2. How are we going to do it?

2.1 Police powers

The Act provides for the following additional powers for the police to better manage the risk posed by terrorist and terrorist risk offenders.

• Premises search: the police will be able to apply to a court for a warrant to search the premises of any offender released on licence to assess their terrorism risk. This will include checking whether the offender is complying with the conditions of their licence. Cross-agency consideration of the terrorism risk posed is expected before an application for a warrant is made.

• Personal search: the police will be able to carry out a personal search on a terrorist offender when this is required by their licence conditions.

• Urgent arrest: the police will be able to arrest a terrorist offender who is likely to be recalled to custody due to a breach of their licence conditions. It will not require a warrant and will apply in specific circumstances pending a decision by the Probation Service to recall.

2.2 Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)

MAPPA are the set of arrangements through which the police, probation and prison services work together with other agencies to manage the risks posed by violent, sexual, and terrorist offenders living in the community in order to protect the public.

Measures in the Act ensure that terrorist and terrorist-connected offenders will be automatically managed under MAPPA. Although the vast majority already are, the changes made by the Act ensures no cases slip through the net by extending criteria for terrorist and terrorist connected offenders to automatically fall under MAPPA.

The Act also ensures that offenders who pose a terrorist risk are MAPPA eligible no matter how minor their original offence or sentence. It will provide a clear discretionary route for those assessed as posing a terrorist risk, so that they may be MAPPA managed.

Duty to Co-operate (DTC) agencies are specified agencies such as Youth Offending Teams, Local Housing Authorities and Local Education Authorities who are required to work with prisons, probation and the police to assess and manage the risks posed by MAPPA offenders. The Act puts beyond doubt the powers of DTC agencies to share information under MAPPA by clarifying existing information sharing provisions. In addition, the Act expressly provides that agencies or individuals who are not DTC may share information under MAPPA if they are contributing to the management of an offender’s risk, for example GPs. Although the powers already exist, some agencies and individuals have expressed uncertainty as they emanate from a range of legislation; the Act clarifies the position.

The Act also puts beyond doubt that sharing information under MAPPA is law enforcement processing under Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018. This will give greater confidence to DTC agencies when sharing information, supporting more effective risk management.

3. Background

How MAPPA works now:

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 provides for the establishment of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements in each of the 42 criminal justice areas in England and Wales.

MAPPA allows agencies to assess and manage the level of risk of harm offenders pose to the public on a multi-agency basis and by working together, sharing information and meeting to ensure that effective plans are put in place. Some measures that can be considered are:

• allowing offenders to live only at a previously agreed address, which can include requiring the offender to reside at a probation-run approved premises on release
• placing controls on the offender’s behaviour through strict licence conditions which can include not to have contact with a named individual or not to enter a defined exclusion zone
• intensive supervision by a probation officer offender manager and/or monitoring by public protection police
• ensuring the offender attends identified accredited programmes and other interventions (such as drug and alcohol programmes) aimed at reducing further offending

4. Why are these measures needed?

The measures in the Act are improvements to current legislation identified by Jonathan Hall QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.

Premises search

This will address the concern that there are currently insufficient search powers available to the police to assess the terrorism risk posed by offenders who are of terrorism concern and the extent to which they are complying with their licence conditions. This new power will improve the ability of operational partners to manage risk.

Personal search

This will help to assess a terrorist offender’s possible involvement in terrorism-related activity and will protect public safety. Furthermore, , it will provide a deterrent for terrorist offenders on licence, for example, not to take weapons with them when travelling and will reduce the danger offender managers are exposed to r during meetings with high risk terrorist offenders.

Urgent arrest

This is required in specific circumstances where arrest is not possible under current legislation. This includes arrest of a terrorist offender who has breached the terms of their licence, for example by refusing to go to their Approved Premises after release or refusing to comply with the personal search and premises search powers. In these circumstances offenders can be held for a short time whilst the Probation Service makes a decision about, and processes, recall.

MAPPA eligibility

This simplify automatic MAPPA eligibility for terrorist offenders and ensure that all terrorist offenders, regardless of sentence length or the type of offence, will be covered by multi-agency management on release. It will also ensure other offenders who are identified as posing a terrorist risk can be managed under MAPPA.

Information sharing

This will address the lack of confidence in, and the complexity of, current measures. It will do so by putting beyond doubt the right for DTC agencies to share information under MAPPA and confirm that doing so is pursuant to Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

5. Which offenders will the police powers apply to?

The new powers provided for in the Act are expected to be used sparingly, since a limited cohort of high-risk offenders within specific scenarios are in scope. They nevertheless offer substantial improvements to public protection.

Premises search

This will apply to any offender who is assessed as posing a terrorism risk while they remain on licence. This assessment will be made following cross-agency agreement and must satisfy a magistrate that a warrant is necessary for purposes connected with protecting the public from a risk of terrorism before it is issued.

Personal search

This will apply to terrorist and terrorist-connected offenders with a licence condition requiring them to comply with it. This condition will be restricted to offenders who pose a high risk of serious harm and will be applied when considered necessary and proportionate to manage the assessed risk.

Urgent arrest

This will apply to terrorist and terrorist connected offenders. It is expected to be used in rare situations where an offender is not committing an offence but is reasonably suspected to be in breach of their licence conditions and to pose an immediate terrorism risk or they are likely to abscond before they can be recalled.

6. How will an individual’s right to privacy be maintained?

Information sharing amongst MAPPA agencies is governed by statute and statutory guidance. Each MAPPA Strategic Management Board is required to have an information sharing agreement in line with the Information Commissioner’s Code of Practice. Any information sharing must be in accordance with the legal framework and the Data Protection Act 2018.

7. Key facts

In the year ending December 2021 there were 50 convictions for terrorism-related offences in Great Britain.

In the year ending September 2021 there were 56 prisoners held for terrorism-related or terrorism-connected offences released from custody in Great Britain.

8. Frequently asked questions

8.1 What is the government doing to manage terrorist offenders in prison and on probation?

In 2017 HM Prison and Probation Service and the Home Office created a new joint Extremism Unit to be the strategic centre for all counter terrorism work in prison and probation.

We have:

• bolstered and improved a network of counter-terrorism (CT) specialist prison and probation staff across England and Wales
• overseen the national roll-out of the revised offender case management process
• created a new CT specialist cadre of prison Imams
• introduced separation centres (there are currently three centres available, one in operation) to hold the most subversive extremist prisoners, preventing them from spreading their malicious ideology
• embedded the prison strand Desistance and Disengagement Programme, and
• rolled out a training programme to help prison staff identify, report and deal with extremist’s behaviour in prison; more than 29,000 prison staff have been trained

8.2 Could the attacks in Fishmongers’ Hall and Streatham have been averted had these changes to the MAPPA process been in place?

Jonathan Hall found that MAPPA is a well established process and did not conclude that wholesale change is necessary.

He made a number of recommendations on how the management of terrorist and terrorist risk offenders can be improved, but it would be wrong to see those as a judgment on what happened in the run up to those attacks as his review did not consider the circumstances that led up to these attacks.

8.3 Are the police powers compliant with human rights commitments?

The government considers that it is justified to enact these powers given the severity of the potential threat to public safety.

The power of personal search will be made without suspicion but this is mitigated by the fact that it is limited to a class of terrorist offenders who have been assessed as posing a particular risk to the public, and a police officer will still need to be satisfied that such a search is necessary for purposes connected with protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism.

8.4 Are the police powers sufficient?

The government believes that the current regime strikes the right balance. These measures are considered proportionate to the benefits they provide in managing risk, given the likelihood of serious harm should an offender re-engage in terrorism related activity.

The government believes that the current regime strikes the right balance. These measures are considered proportionate to the benefits they provide in managing risk, given the likelihood of serious harm should an offender re engage in terrorism related activity. 

8.5 Will the police powers apply UK-wide?

Yes, the police powers will apply across the UK.