George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the terrorism threat level for events at major sports stadiums.

Mr John Hayes

The threat level for international terrorism for the UK is set independently by the Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre (JTAC) and is currently at SEVERE, meaning that an attack is highly likely. It would however, not be appropriate to comment on threat assessments for specific locations.

The Government and police advice to the public is to be alert, but not alarmed by the terrorist threat. The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, works to improve protective security and preparedness at a range of crowded places sites, including sports stadia, by ensuring businesses have access to high quality protective security advice. This includes advice provided to sports grounds by police specialist Counter Terrorism Security Advisors (CTSAs), and through the National Counter Terrorism Security Office which has provided information about the current threat and guidance on key actions to take to the Sports Ground Safety Association and its partners.

The police regularly review their arrangements at major sporting events to ensure a proportionate response is in place at events, which may include an increase in highly visible officers.