FOI release

Breakdown of Private Security Industry Act 2001 convictions

Published 4 December 2023

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1. Request

Can you please provide year-by-year historical data, 2003 onwards, on the number of convictions under the following sections of the PSIA 2001:

  • engaging in licensable conduct without a licence [Section 3(1)]
  • contravening licence conditions [Section 9(4)]
  • obstructing SIA officials or those with delegated authority, or failing to respond to a request for information [Section 19(5)]
  • making false statements to the SIA [Section 22(1)]
  • employing unlicensed persons in licensable conduct [Section 5(1)]
  • using unlicensed vehicle immobilisers [Section 6(1)]
  • falsely claiming approved contractor status [Section 16(2)]

2. Response

I can confirm that the SIA holds some of this information.

In line with the SIA retention schedules, information relevant to your request is held for a maximum period of 7 years. Therefore, we can only provide information between 2017 and 2023.

The figures provided do not provide an accurate picture of the number of prosecutions for offences under Private Security Industry Act 2001 (PSIA). O ther agencies are able to prosecute the same offences that we do, such as The Crown Prosecution Service, Procurator Fiscal and the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland.

Lastly, these figures are in respect of convictions for offences under the PSIA only. They will not correspond with the figures provided at part (g) above. Those figures are for total number of convictions, including offences under the Fraud Act 2006, Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 and others that we charge under.

Section 6 Private Security Industry Act 2001 is only an offence in Northern Ireland, as you only need an SIA licence to perform this role in Northern Ireland. You do not need an SIA licence to perform this role in England and Wales. The SIA has conducted 0 prosecutions for 7 years related to this offence. In light of the information provided here and above, you may wish to submit a Freedom of Information request to the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland.

2.1 Section 3 – engaging in licensable conduct without a licence

Year Figures
2017 6
2018 10
2019 9
2020 9
2021 10
2022 13
2023 18

2.2 Section 9 – contravention of licence conditions

Year Figures
2017 2
2018 2
2019 2
2020 2
2021 1
2022 0
2023 4

2.3 Section 5 – deployment of unlicensed security operatives

Note: these figures include convictions against individuals and security companies.

Year Figures
2017 11
2018 15
2019 9
2020 8
2021 9
2022 7
2023 9

2.4 Section 16 – holding oneself out to be an approved contractor, when not registered to do so

Year Figures
2017 0
2018 0
2019 0
2020 0
2021 3
2022 1
2023 1

2.5 Section 19 – failure to comply with a statutory request for information

Year Figures
2017 3
2018 7
2019 4
2020 6
2021 5
2022 5
2023 2

2.6 Section 22 – making a false statement or recklessly making a false statement to the SIA

Year Figures
2017 4
2018 5
2019 0
2020 3
2021 0
2022 2
2023 1

[Reference: FOI 0470]

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