Demonstrations: Universities
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether updated public order guidance will be issued to universities and police forces on managing campus protests; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure public order powers are consistently enforced in higher education settings.
Answered by Sarah Jones
Police forces regularly work with protest organisers, local communities and institutions affected by protests to ensure the right to peaceful protest can be balanced against the need to protect the public from serious disruption or harm.
The College of Policing is responsible for providing guidance to police and are operationally independent from Government. The Protest Operational Advice Document contains operational advice for frontline policing and is regularly updated to include all public order powers.
Advice on protest and free speech for universities is provided by the Office for Students, the regulator for higher education in England.
The Home Office works with the Department of Education and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government to encourage collaboration between police, local authorities and higher education settings to ensure protests can be managed effectively.
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