People stopped and detained under the Terrorism Act Section 43 in 2021

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.023350

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. Can you tell me how many people were stopped and detained under the Terrorism Act Section 43 in year 2021.
2. Were any of the persons who were detained, were they arrested and charged under Section 43.
3. The number of people who were convicted of that offense.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - Can you tell me how many people were stopped and detained under the Terrorism Act Section 43 in year 2021.

It is first important for the MPS to explain that Section 43 of the Terrorism Act (TACT) is a stop and search power only, it is not an offence.

The MPS is therefore only able to provide you with a dataset for stop and searches in 2021 where the search power was Section 43 and Section 43a Terrrism Act 2000.

Q2 - Were any of the persons who were detained, were they arrested and charged under Section 43.

Section 43 of the Terrorism Act (TACT) is a stop and search power only, it is not an offence one can be arrested or charged under.

The information you have therefore requested is not recorded.

Whilst a person cannot be arrested under Section 43 and Section 43a TACT, I refer you to the stop and search dataset provided today to answer Question 1. Where there was an outcome where action was taken following the use of the Section 43 and Section 43a TACT (other than ‘No action taken’), the offence type that the action was for is provided to you today (which includes Arrest, Penalty Notice, Postal Charge Requisition/ Summons and Community Resolution figures).

It is not possible to show charges on the NSPIS custody system, as it is not linked to the separate stop and search system. To retrieve any other charging data information held across the two systems would require individual names and records to be cross-referenced across both systems.

Q3 - The number of people who were convicted of that offense.

Section 43 of the Terrorism Act (TACT) is a stop and search power only, it is not an offence one can be convicted under.

The information you have therefore requested is not recorded.

Whilst a person cannot be arrested under Section 43 and Section 43a TACT, I refer you to the stop and search dataset provided today to answer Question 1. Where there was an outcome where action was taken following the use of the Section 43 and Section 43a TACT (other than ‘No action taken’), the offence type that the action was for is provided to you today (which includes Arrest, Penalty Notice, Postal Charge Requisition/ Summons and Community Resolution figures).

Further information

It may be of interest for me to refer you to the publicly available MPS Stop and search Dashboard;

MPS Stats and Data - Stop & Search Dashboard

MPS stop and arrest data is also published by the Home Office - Operation of Police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000, quarterly update to September 2021