Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

I hope that my hon. Friend will forgive me if I do not immediately respond to those questions, because I believe that what I will say later will answer them. If I do not fully answer them, I invite him to intervene on me again, but I hope that it will be easier for hon. Members to hear the response to those points later in my speech, because it will then make better sense to them. I shall deal with the question of whether we need legislation on assault—I will refer to the Scottish experience—and with whether there are gaps in the offence of impeding. I have already addressed to a degree some of the defects in the existing legislation, but are there further gaps? If there is a gap in the law, who should be covered and what action should be taken? Is this all a matter for the courts—or, as some hon. Members have said, can it be dealt with by taking further action, including the work that we are already doing with the respect action plan and so on? Assault is the most serious aspect, and following my assurances and explanations the Father of the House, who is promoting the Bill, has generously agreed to focus not on assault but on amendments to address a gap in the law. Comprehensive measures in our existing law already deal properly with assault and attacks in a wide range of circumstances. The offences include common assault, actual bodily harm, which is committed if a person’s injuries are more than superficial, and grievous bodily harm, which is a very serious offence. Shockingly, emergency service workers have been the victims of those more serious forms of assault. A wide range of penalties can be imposed for the different criminal behaviours associated with assault and other violence. The sentence for common assault can be a maximum of six months’ imprisonment or a fine of up to £5,000, and the sentence for grievous bodily harm, manslaughter or murder can be life imprisonment. Those offences cover everyone, so we do not think that we need a specific offence of assault on emergency workers. Such a provision would add nothing to the existing law, and, as I was explaining to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ann Keen), a specific offence could cause complications because a person’s specific circumstances at the time of the assault would have to be proved, which could have the unintentional effect of inhibiting a successful prosecution. I hope that we will be able to amend the Bill substantially in Committee. It would provide for a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment for such an offence, but that is the same penalty as the maximum sentence for common assault. The provision would thus add nothing practical to the protection that the law already offers.