Background Port and border controls
67.Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”) provides for counter-terrorism port and border controls. It enables an examining officer (who may be a constable, an immigration officer, or a customs officer designated for the purpose of the Schedule by the Secretary of State and the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs) to stop and question, and where necessary detain and search a person travelling through a port, airport, international rail station or the border area. Such an examination is for the purpose of determining whether the person appears to be someone who is or has been concerned with the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. An examining officer may question a person whether or not he has grounds for suspecting that person may be concerned with terrorism. Equally, stopping an individual does not necessarily mean that the examining officer believes the person to be a terrorist.
68.An examining officer may require a person to answer questions or provide certain documents. No period of examination may exceed nine hours (reduced to a maximum of six hours by this Act). Wilful obstruction or frustration of an examination is an offence under the 2000 Act.
69.Only around three people in every 10,000 are examined as they pass through the UK’s ports and borders. Most examinations, 97%, last under one hour. Between 2004 and 2009, the number of terrorist-related arrests that resulted directly from a Schedule 7 stop was about 20 per year. In addition, Schedule 7 examinations have produced information that has contributed to long and complex intelligence-based counter-terrorism investigations.(31)
70.The Home Secretary launched a public consultation on 13 September 2012 on the review of the operation of Schedule 7 (House of Commons, Official Report, column 15WS) with a view to ensuring that the powers struck a proper balance between the need to maintain the protection of the UK Border and respect for individual freedoms.(32) The response to the consultation was published on 11 July 2013. Section 148 and Schedule 9 make the changes to Schedule 7 to the 2000 Act arising from the consultation.