Data showing the number of males and females, by age group, proceeded against and found guilty of organising or carrying out a demonstration in a designated area in 2005 and 2006 are found in the following table. The Ministry of Justice are unable to separate offences committed in Parliament Square from those committed in other locations within the designated area.
The Home Office does not collect the information requested on arrests centrally. However I understand from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that since Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 came into force until the end of December 2006, there have been 91 arrests of individuals for a range of offences connected to demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament. Data on the number of arrests in 2007 are not available.
2005 2006 Sex and age Proceeded against Found guilty Proceeded against Found guilty Male 10 to 11 — — — — 12 to 14 — — — — 15 to 17 1 — 1 1 18 to 20 — — 2 1 21 and over 5 — 13 11 Total 6 — 16 13 Female 10 to 11 — — — — 12 to 14 — — — — 15 to 17 — — — — 18 to 20 — — — — 21 and over 1 1 6 5 Total 1 1 6 5 Total 7 1 22 18 1 (a) The designated area includes Parliament Square and other locations within the Westminster area - as detailed in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, Designated Area Order (No 1537). 2 These data are on the principal offence basis. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 The above data cover the following statutes: Section 132(1)(a),(b) and (c), Section 136(1) and (2) of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. 5 The above named Act came into force on 7 April 2005.