Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015

Summary and Background

3. The Government considered that there was a need to legislate in order to reduce the terrorism threat to the UK. On 29 August 2014, the independent Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) raised the UK national terrorist threat level from SUBSTANTIAL to SEVERE. This means that a terrorist attack is “highly likely”. Nearly 600 people from the UK who are of interest to the security services are thought to have travelled to Syria and the region since the start of the conflict, and the security services estimate that around half of those have returned. In the context of this heightened threat to our national security, the provisions in this Act will strengthen the legal powers and capabilities of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to disrupt terrorism and prevent individuals from being radicalised in the first instance.

4. On 1 September 2014, the Prime Minister announced that legislation would be brought forward in a number of areas to stop people travelling overseas to fight for terrorist organisations or engage in terrorism-related activity and subsequently returning to the UK, and to deal with those already in the UK who pose a risk to the public. The provisions in this Act will ensure that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies can disrupt the ability of people to travel abroad to fight, such as in Syria and Iraq, and control their return to the UK. It will enhance operational capabilities to monitor and control the actions of those in the UK who pose a threat, and help to combat the underlying ideology that supports terrorism.

5. The UK has a strategy for countering terrorism: CONTEST. The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. The strategy continues to be based around four main areas of work:

• Pursue: the investigation and disruption of terrorist attacks;

• Prevent: work to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism and extremism;

• Protect: improving our protective security to stop a terrorist attack; and

• Prepare: working to minimise the impact of an attack and to recover from it as quickly as possible.

Provisions in this legislation will strengthen powers and capabilities in the “Pursue”, “Prevent”, and “Protect” areas of work in particular.

6. This Act brings provisions in six main areas. First, it will strengthen powers to place temporary restrictions on travel where a person is suspected of involvement in terrorism. Second, it will enhance existing Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures to monitor and control the actions of individuals in the UK who pose a threat. Third, it will enhance law enforcement agencies’ ability to investigate terrorism and serious crime by extending the retention of relevant communications data to include data that will help to identify who is responsible for sending a communication on the internet or accessing an internet communications service. Fourth, it will strengthen security arrangements in relation to the border and to aviation, maritime and rail transport. Fifth, it will reduce the risk of people being drawn into terrorism, by enhancing the programmes that combat the underlying ideology which supports terrorism through improved engagement from partner organisations and consistency of delivery. Sixth, it will amend existing terrorism legislation to clarify the law in relation to both insurance payments made in response to terrorist demands and the power to examine goods under the Terrorism Act 2000. Seventh, it strengthens the independent oversight arrangements for UK counter-terrorism legislation by extending the statutory remit of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation and enabling a more flexible reporting schedule, and by providing for the creation of a Privacy and Civil Liberties Board which will support the Independent Reviewer to discharge his statutory functions.