Part 10: Management of offenders Chapter 4: Management of terrorist offenders Section 187: Powers of seizure and retention
Section 187 inserts new section 43E into the 2000 Act, which governs the seizure and retention of items found when the search powers in new sections 43C and 43D are exercised.
	New section 43E(1) links the section to the powers of personal and premises search. New section 43E(7) applies it to the cohorts stipulated there: terrorist offenders with a specific licence condition for the personal search and any offenders with a terrorism risk for the premises search. The powers of seizure and retention help ensure public protection, including by allowing the confiscation of weapons, and supporting investigation, such as by reviewing phones that may be used to contact terrorist networks.
	New section 43E(2) sets out the grounds for seizure, including at subsection (2)(b) to check an offender’s compliance with licence conditions and then to consider the risk of terrorism this entails. This addresses scenarios in which items are found that could be of terrorism risk but which require further investigation to confirm this, and which would not necessarily result in automatic recall. Ascertaining both breach of licence and terrorism risk is expected to be conducted through cross-agency agreement. Items that may be seized include computerised information, by virtue of section 20 of PACE. For the avoidance of doubt, computerised information can be seized in Scotland.
	New section 43E(3) to (6) govern retention. New section 43E(5) sets a seven day limit on the retention on anything that is not required for the purposes set out in subsection (4); this gives a proportionate time for the item to be investigated where the terrorism risk is not immediately clear.
	New section 43E(8) preserves the ability of a court to deliver property to a person after it has come into police possession under section 1 of the Police (Property) Act 1897.