§ Lord Moynihanasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much money has been (a) committed; and (b) spent to date by police forces, to stop football hooligans travelling to this summer's European football championships in Portugal. [HL1679]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalInformation on the cost of policing football generally is not collected centrally. However, as of 2 March 2004, the Home Office had reimbursed local forces a total of £578,065 to cover the cost of targeted operations designed to gather evidence and obtain football banning orders on 17WA known football hooligans. The Minister of State for crime reduction, policing and community safety (Hazel Blears) announced last year that £5 million has been allocated to fund the targeted football banning order operations over a period of three calendar years.
As of 2 March 2004, the courts have imposed 2,015 football banning orders preventing the subjects travelling to matches overseas, including Euro 2004. The banning orders have been prompted by evidence gathered during public order policing of football operations or as a result of the Home Office-funded targeted, operations mentioned above.
§ Lord Moynihanasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many Section 14B banning orders have been issued to football hooligans each year since they were first introduced and what are the totals for each police force. [HL1680]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalThe following number of banning orders under Section 14B of the Football (Disorder) Act 2000 have been imposed by the courts in each calendar year since the Act came into force.
Year Number of 14B football banning orders issued 2000 37 2001 56 2002 55 2003 12 2004 (up to 3 March) 11 It is not possible to compile data by police force for expired banning orders. There are currently (as of 3 March 2004) 71 Section 14B banning orders in place, distributed among police forces as follows:
Police Force Number of current Section 14B football banning orders Avon and Somerset Constabulary 1 Derbyshire Constabulary 1 Essex Police 9 Gloucestershire Constabulary 3 Greater Manchester Police 13 Lancashire Constabulary 2 Leicestershire Constabulary 4 Merseyside Police 11 Metropolitan Police 9 North Wales Police 1 Northumbria Police 1 Nottinghamshire Constabulary 1 South Yorkshire Police 8 Staffordshire Police 1 Sussex Police 2 West Midlands Police 2 West Yorkshire Police 2