We can do that in Committee, and I am happy to discuss the matter with the hon. Gentlemen. Having set up the Sentencing Guidelines Council, we should use it as effectively as we can, and I happy to discuss with them how it works. It is a relatively new animal, and not everyone is completely familiar with it. In my view, the experience of the offence under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 is significant. It is interesting that this debate has focused on the fire services, which currently have an offence that is quite complex and has recently been reiterated in law. There have been difficulties, however, in securing effective prosecutions. Part of the reason for that is the difficulty of demonstrating what constitutes an offence of this kind. We need a fairly simple definition of the offence, while also ensuring that it can be dealt with by means of a sentence.
Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Fiona Mactaggart
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Friday, 3 March 2006.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
443 c541 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2024-04-21 21:57:12 +0100
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