My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken and particularly note the widespread support for this measure, which is as it should be. I am sure we all agree that there is no place for class A drugs or the disorder they give rise to at football matches. This simple, practical measure to tighten the law will ensure that the football banning order regime properly encompasses those who commit drug offences related to football. I take particular note of the comments from the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, on the dangers of cocaine misuse.
I will try to address some of the specific points that your Lordships raised. The noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, quoted the statistics; I will go into a little more detail on those. Official statistics for the 2021-22 season show that there were 2,198 football-related arrests, which is a substantial increase—59%—on the last complete pre-Covid season. It is important to note that football-related arrests had previously been on a long-term down trend, reducing by some 50% since the 2010-11 season to record lows. Last season’s arrests total was comparable with the 2013-14 season. There were also 170 dedicated football officer-related incidents of supporter drug use during the 2021-22 season.
The noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, also referred to the Channel 4 documentary on Italia 90. I have not seen it—I am still mentally scarred by our loss to Germany, of course—but I will definitely watch it.
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The noble Lord asked what the Government have done in response to the Euro 2020 final. The Home Office responded robustly to that disorder and to the
subsequent reports. We extended coverage of FBOs to persons convicted of online hate crime offences connected to football and other physical hate crime offences previously not covered. We have amended the threshold test for FBOs to increase the likelihood that a court will impose an FBO following a conviction for football-related offences that are violent, disorderly or cause harm to others. We have also extended the FBO regime and the Football (Offences) Act 1991 to include elite domestic women’s football. That prevents persons subject to an FBO attending women’s club matches and ensures that persons convicted of football-related offences can be made subject to an FBO. We are also keeping tailgating under review, which is someone without a ticket entering a stadium behind a ticket holder. Tailgating with any element of disorder could be an arrestable offence, with an FBO imposed following conviction.
The noble, Lord, Lord Ponsonby, asked some specific questions. The problem has got worse since fans started to return to stadia post pandemic, as these reports outlined. Other sports do not seem to suffer from the same disorder problems as football, so there are no plans to expand these orders yet. The noble Lord also asked about the current scale of class A drug use. Police have gathered extensive evidence, again during the 2021-22 football season, to show the scale of cocaine use inside football stadia and users’ involvement in violence and disorder. Police have intensified their enforcement action against the misuse of cocaine at football matches, which includes specific operations targeting users. The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for football policing, Chief Constable Mark Roberts, is clear in his belief that cocaine use is a significant factor in violence and disorder at matches in England and Wales.
There was a rise in football-related disorder during the 2021-22 football season and police are clear that there is a direct link between cocaine use and this rise, which has caused, as we all agree, unsavoury scenes at widely publicised events. The noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, also asked whether drugs were more available and other aspects of that. I am afraid that I do not have that information to hand but, if he permits, I will write with more details on the current state of knowledge on the matter.
We have witnessed an increase in football-related disorder and drug use at matches. It has become apparent that more needs to be done to prevent this becoming more widespread. By banning those who commit class A drug offences at football matches, we are sending a clear message that drug-fuelled disorder will not be tolerated and that those who attempt to supply or possess class A drugs will be banned from attending all regulated football matches.