Policy background
The terrorism threat level in the UK remains "substantial" – meaning an attack is likely – and there have been 29 terrorist attacks disrupted since 2017. The terror attacks at Fishmongers’ Hall on 29 November 2019 and in Streatham on 2 February 2020 were clear demonstrations of the risk the UK continues to face from terrorism. Each attack was committed by a known terrorism offender who had been released automatically at the halfway point of their sentence without input from the Parole Board. Following the attack in November 2019, the Government announced its intention to introduce a new approach to the sentencing and management of terrorist offenders. This included longer sentences and ending early release for dangerous terrorist offenders; overhauling prisons and probation, including tougher monitoring conditions and the doubling of counter-terrorism probation officers; increasing Counter-Terrorism Police funding; and reviewing support for victims of terrorism, including an immediate £500,000 to the Victims of Terrorism Unit. It also launched an independent review of the way different agencies, including police, probation service and the security services, investigate, monitor and manage terrorist offenders – called Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).
	The Government had already announced its intention to bring forward legislation to change the sentencing and release of terrorist offenders. The Government introduced emergency legislation, the Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Act 2020 ("TORER Act"), to ensure that terrorist offenders serving or sentenced to a determinate sentence could not be released before the end of their custodial term without agreement of the Parole Board. Due to the nature of the threat posed, these measures were applied to both serving prisoners and prospectively. The provisions of this Act applied in England and Wales and Scotland.
	The TORER Act applied to Great Britain but did not extend to Northern Ireland (NI) at that time. NI determinate sentencing provisions differ slightly from the provisions which govern how standard determinate sentences and short and long-term sentences are set in England and Wales, and Scotland, respectively. These issues were not addressed in the emergency timetable as there were no prisoners with impending release, but Ministers committed to returning to this issue for NI. Therefore, provision to rectify that inconsistency is being provided in this Act.
	Although the number of children convicted of terrorism offences is small, it is clear that some are susceptible to radicalisation and to adopting extremist views and that some pose a threat whilst still under the age of 18. The Government also intends to ensure through this Act that this threat is reduced by extending measures to youth offenders where appropriate.