Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) on introducing this Bill, on having responded to pressure from representatives of emergency service workers, and on the transparent and accommodating way in which he has worked with the Government in order to make progress on this issue. There clearly is a problem, in that although existing legislation deals in theory with a range of such crimes, it demonstrably is not as effective as it should be. It is obvious from the Government’s response and from negotiations with the Sentencing Guidelines Council that steps are being taken to ensure that the failure of legislation to deal with the problem will be addressed. None the less, it is also obvious that a range of offences are being perpetrated against emergency workers that are not covered by existing legislation. I welcome my right hon. Friend’s recognition of that fact, and his willingness to abandon elements of his proposals that might have complicated existing legislation, so that the Bill can make progress. The Bill will do a number of things to assist in dealing with the problem. For a start, it will go some way toward addressing what must be a demoralising experience for emergency service workers. How often do we read newspaper headlines lauding to the skies the efforts of fire service workers and ambulance crews? Any straw poll of the public would show that emergency workers number among the most highly rated people in this country. One can only try to understand how demoralising it must be for them to be confronted with the violence and obstruction that seems to form part of their daily lives in pursuing their duties. To date, the Government, and even the wider public, have not focused on this problem sufficiently. The Bill will perhaps help to raise such workers’ morale, and help them to feel that the Government and the public are concerned and are going to do something about this problem. The Bill is important in another way. If people are not confident that action will be taken when they report a criminal offence, their inclination is not to bother to report it. By drawing public attention to the issue and demonstrating that action is being taken, the Bill will—I hope—encourage people, not only in the emergency services but in other public services, to report such attacks. That will put pressure on employers and law enforcement agencies to do something about the problem.