Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) on coming so high in the ballot, and on his wisdom in choosing this subject. I am particularly pleased to be able to support the Bill, because I am a former nurse who often worked in the accident and emergency service and greatly valued the teamwork of fire and ambulance crews. We have heard some shocking things from Members today, and the material from the Library contains further shocking information. Reading press releases issued over the past few months, I have been struck by the horror of incidents that had occurred throughout the United Kingdom. I was particularly struck by the fact that ambulance and fire personnel had gone into schools and asked young people to put their hands up if they had ever thrown stones, been abusive or planned attacks on our valued public services. The question was asked without prejudice, so that the young people would feel that they could confess to such actions. As I was not there, I cannot say how it went, but I think we should adopt that approach of confronting the perpetrators. I believe that the Government’s respect agenda will allow us, as Members of Parliament, to go into our communities, meet ambulance and fire personnel and establish what we can do to help them in our constituencies. We should work as a team, which of course we are if we are part of the public sector. Our police are protected, and rightly so, but we unintentionally instil in other ““blue light”” public servants a sense of being undervalued if we do not afford them the same protection. I am thinking of people who must work in quite unbelievable circumstances. There was a time, many years ago, when ambulance personnel were thought of as glorified taxi drivers, but people know different now. Our ambulance personnel are extremely well-trained paramedics, with the skill to save our lives and keep us alive while they take us to accident and emergency departments. I accept what the hon. Member for Upminster (Angela Watkinson) said about nursing and other staff in A and E departments in the spirit in which she meant it, but being in a department is very different from being at the roadside dealing with an incident, and having to be on the scene from the start. Of course, many nurses and doctors will accompany ambulance crews to incidents that require an entire team. Our fire officers do not just fight fires; they may be on the scene to deal with road accidents and other traumatic injuries. If the Bill is passed, our pride in our public servants will be reinforced by the Government and, if we achieve consensus—as I hope we will—by the House. The ““Not Alone”” guide, which provides protection for NHS workers, is a step forward. The NHS security management services recognise that training is paramount for those who work alone. I worked as a district nurse for some years, and I worked alone in houses. Finding a house or block of flats and then going in, a district nurse is never entirely sure what awaits her, and may feel very vulnerable. Having a mobile phone may not be enough, because there may be no one back at the centre to take the call at that time of night. The system must become more sophisticated. We have tracking devices now. We have technology that enables us to protect all those who are working to make our lives better, and to help us and our communities through crises. I want to work with the Government on the respect agenda, and I think that all of us, as Members of Parliament, have a duty to take that agenda into our constituencies. The reason why so many of us are here today to support the Bill is that we have a responsibility to find out what is happening in our areas and what we can do about it, and to pass legislation that will benefit everyone. If we do that, there will come a day when it will no longer be necessary for us to come to the House on Fridays to discuss how we can protect ambulance personnel and firefighters who work for the greater good of us all. We must send the message today that we value all those workers equally.