Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

I will explain fully the way in which the Sentencing Guidelines Council works later, but it may be helpful if I quote from the overarching principles that it issued in December 2004. Paragraph 1.23 identifies"““Factors indicating a more than usually serious degree of harm””" that must be taken into account when determining a sentence. One such factor is:"““Offence is committed against those working in the public sector or providing a service to the public””." It is obvious from the debate that Parliament takes seriously the problem affecting people who perform the special duty of providing emergency services. However, such people are already covered by a specific aspect of the guidance on seriousness, and we hope that the Sentencing Guidelines Council will consider the matter further.