Ministers have published a running set of letters to Parliament detailing government amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in the House of Commons on 25 February 2025. The government page was last updated on 28 October 2025 to add a Lords Committee letter dated 27 October.
On online knife harms, the Home Office set out “Ronan’s Law”, establishing a police‑led content removal notice regime for illegal knife and offensive weapon sales advertised online. Platforms would have 48 hours to remove specified content, with civil penalties up to £60,000 for companies and up to £10,000 for designated UK‑based executives; a national coordination hub would issue and manage notices.
Remote sales of knives and crossbows would face tighter age checks. Sellers must verify age and identity using photographic ID at purchase and couriers must do so again on delivery; packages must be marked and handed only to the named buyer. Ministers also proposed extending these checks to collection points at Report.
A separate duty would require retailers to report bulk or suspicious online purchases of specified bladed articles to the police. Bulk is defined as six or more knives in a single transaction; suspicious purchases include six or more within 30 days to the same person or address, with scope to amend the threshold by regulations.
Public order amendments empower police to impose conditions on protests that intimidate those attending places of worship and clarify that senior officers directing an operation may set conditions even if not present on scene. The package also ensures British Transport Police can use assemblies powers at stations and restores face‑covering powers, with Ministry of Defence Police enabled to use equivalent provisions within their jurisdiction.
New provisions create a presumption of anonymity for authorised firearms officers charged with offences arising from duty incidents, with reporting restrictions at first hearing and the option to continue on appeal where necessary. The approach covers forces in England and Wales, the National Crime Agency, British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police and Civil Nuclear Constabulary, and applies to service personnel acting as firearms officers.
Road traffic law would add offences for causing death or serious injury by dangerous or careless cycling, mirroring existing motoring offences and applying across Great Britain.
Early committee amendments introduce Respect Orders to replace elements of the civil injunction regime, with consequential tenancy and anti‑social behaviour updates so breach remains a ground for possession. The Bill also adds new serious offences-including child criminal exploitation and child sexual abuse image‑generator offences-to Schedule 4 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 so the section 45 defence does not apply, alongside a clause listing additional terrorism offences in that Schedule following advice from the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
Youth Diversion Orders (YDOs) are framed as a reserved counter‑terrorism risk management tool for young people. Amendments clarify that the court must determine any terrorist connection for YDO purposes, expand illustrative measures (including travel and location restrictions and notification requirements), enable electronic monitoring in England and Wales subject to a code of practice, streamline appeals, and bring YDOs within the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s oversight.
Further YDO changes at Report allow applications up to and including age 21, set a clearer basis for monitoring of electronic devices to check compliance with online restrictions, and adapt definitions and appeal routes for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Consequential sentencing changes mean conditional discharge is not available for breaches of Respect Orders or YDOs.
Data powers are expanded so that, with senior authorisation and safeguards, law enforcement may extract information from specified online accounts where a device has been lawfully seized; port and border provisions are updated to enable access to cloud accounts discovered through device searches and extend retention to 14 days; and interception of two‑factor authentication messages is authorised where access is otherwise permitted. A statutory code of practice would govern use.
Integrity measures extend barred and advisory lists across the NCA, British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police and Civil Nuclear Constabulary, placing duties on law enforcement employers to check those lists before hiring, following concerns highlighted by HMICFRS about staff movement after misconduct. The provisions apply UK‑wide.
Two new offences address coerced internal concealment, targeting those who force adults or children to conceal items-often drugs-internally for criminal purposes. The maximum penalty is ten years’ imprisonment, with consequential changes to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Modern Slavery Act 2015. The offences apply in England and Wales.
To close gaps following repeal of the Vagrancy Act 1824 and to better protect staff doing their jobs in private homes, ministers propose new racially or religiously aggravated offences protecting emergency workers in dwellings and new offences of arranging or facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with intent to commit a criminal offence. The emergency worker provisions mirror section 31 penalties; the begging offences would carry maximum terms of six months and three months respectively.
Extradition changes clarify that the right to a retrial in in‑absentia conviction cases may depend on a domestic finding of deliberate absence, aligning with the UK‑EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement and addressing the Supreme Court’s decision in Merticariu v Romania to avoid discharges where reassurances cannot be given.
The Bill’s new offence of climbing on specified war memorials would explicitly include the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square and allow other significant memorials to be added where there is a significant public interest.
A further clause permits the Home Secretary to direct “critical police undertakings”, covering functions such as those provided by BlueLight Commercial and the Police Digital Service, ahead of legislation to establish a National Centre of Policing. Any notice or direction would be published and laid before Parliament.
At Lords Committee stage, government amendments propose extending the increased maximum penalties for offensive weapon offences to Scotland and replicating or extending the remote sale and delivery age‑verification regime for knives and crossbows to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Only physical copies of listed ID would be acceptable initially, with scope for regulations to add digital identity methods.
Taken together, these letters are formal government communications to Parliament and signal operational and compliance changes for platforms, online retailers and delivery firms, as well as new powers and duties for police forces, prosecutors and faith institutions ahead of the Lords Committee stage and subsequent passage.