Parliamentary search - Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

443 c508-49

Session

2005-06

Department

Home Office

Legislative stage

Second reading

Procedure

Private members' bills proceedings

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill.
Wednesday, 22 June 2005
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Adrian Bailey | 443 c533 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Minister will address this point in the fullness of time; but just in case, may I pre-em...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c533-4 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my hon. Friend will forgive me if I do not immediately respond to those questions, becau...

Show all contributions (116)

Ann Keen | 443 c532 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend explain the current offence of impeding a firefighter, because it is still not q...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c532-3 (Link to this contribution) Certainly. That is an important part of the point that I was about to come to, which was raised by t...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c534 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister not accept that when dealing with assault, it is important to make it clear, to yo...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c534-5 (Link to this contribution) We need to be honest about what influences 16-year-olds’ behaviour. The hon. Gentleman is right that...

Sharon Hodgson | 443 c534 (Link to this contribution) If an offence of common assault, actual bodily harm or grievous bodily harm were committed against a...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c534 (Link to this contribution) I will explain fully the way in which the Sentencing Guidelines Council works later, but it may be h...

Lord Herbert of South Downs | 443 c535 (Link to this contribution) The Minister said that a specific additional offence would add nothing to the existing law, and expr...

Speaker | 443 c535 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Lady has now committed the offence a second time, I must point out that when she says ““...

Ann Keen | 443 c536 (Link to this contribution) My apologies, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I spoke earlier about what is almost antisocial behaviour among y...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c536 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. I shall come on to that issue. As well as specific parts of the respect campaign that ca...

Janet Anderson | 443 c536 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister agree that the situation in Scotland is not really comparable? The Scots created a...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c536-7 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely true. The Sentencing Guidelines Council provides a mechanism that can read across...

Tobias Ellwood | 443 c537 (Link to this contribution) : If I understand the Under-Secretary correctly, she is not willing to give special treatment to peo...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c537-8 (Link to this contribution) I fully understand my hon. Friend’s point but I am worried about the statistics that she cited. It a...

Ann Keen | 443 c535 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for giving way. At the point of my intervention, you were describing quite rightly—

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c538 (Link to this contribution) I—

Eric Forth | 443 c522-3 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) said that he had waited 41 years for the chan...

Kitty Ussher | 443 c523-4 (Link to this contribution) I, too, begin by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) not...

Angela Watkinson | 443 c521 (Link to this contribution) When fire service personnel are injured as a result of an attack, that has a career-threatening effe...

Andrew Dismore | 443 c521-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes an important point. When I was a solicitor for the FBU, I handled many compensat...

Jim Dowd | 443 c520 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend said that some 40 attacks happen every week and that that figure could be as high as ...

Andrew Dismore | 443 c520-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. We know that if people have little confidence in the legal ...

Tobias Ellwood | 443 c526 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is some irony in what he has just said? For many years as I...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c525-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman’s evidence accords with my personal experience and other reports from elsewhere. ...

Lord Stunell | 443 c525 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the Fire Brigades Union and many firefighters say that many in...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c526 (Link to this contribution) At the opening of the new fire station in Teignmouth, I was told that there is now a waiting list fo...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c526-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, although I cannot comment on the details about his cons...

Emily Thornberry | 443 c527-8 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) on the Bill and than...

Nia Griffith | 443 c528-9 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams), first, on securing ...

Stephen Pound | 443 c526 (Link to this contribution) Firefighter.

Tobias Ellwood | 443 c526 (Link to this contribution) Well, I am a man, so I would have been a fireman. We now have a generation who do not want to be fir...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c526 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point, although many areas have long waiting lists for becoming fir...

Lord Herbert of South Downs | 443 c530-2 (Link to this contribution) I think it is agreed across the House that we are discussing a very serious problem. Assaults on peo...

Baroness Keeley | 443 c529-30 (Link to this contribution) I too welcome the Bill introduced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c532 (Link to this contribution) I start by thanking the Father of the House for giving us the opportunity to demonstrate the consens...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c542-3 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is one of the great conspiracy theorists of the House, but to suggest that ...

Eric Forth | 443 c542 (Link to this contribution) It will be in code.

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c542 (Link to this contribution) The Minister does not require the assistance or protection of the Chair. I can inform the House that...

Speaker | 443 c542 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely nothing.

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c544-5 (Link to this contribution) Yes, we are having discussions with a lot of people about the respect agenda. I have mentioned schoo...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c544 (Link to this contribution) I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically endorse the Minister’s comments. Is the Home Office having dis...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c544 (Link to this contribution) Yes, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. I have been struck by the fact that the fire service has we...

Baroness Keeley | 443 c543-4 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that my hon. Friend has come on to that point. Although it has been helpful to hear all th...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c545-7 (Link to this contribution) Officials at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are working with the Association of Chief Polic...

Lord Stunell | 443 c545 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the Minister’s giving way on the under-recording of offences, which is a matter of grea...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c538 (Link to this contribution) I am having discussions. I had intended a little later in my remarks to describe how the Sentencing ...

Eric Forth | 443 c538 (Link to this contribution) Just say no.

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c539 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid the hon. Gentleman has not understood. I do not mean to patronise him, but I pointed out...

Tobias Ellwood | 443 c539 (Link to this contribution) I must go back to the statistics, which show how damaging the current system is. We want to move the...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c539 (Link to this contribution) I am about to describe how the process will work with respect to violent crime, but I shall first gi...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c538-9 (Link to this contribution) As I have pointed out to the hon. Gentleman, we already have action in the overriding principles of ...

David Evennett | 443 c538 (Link to this contribution) I have listened with great interest to the Minister. Her approach is very worthy, but what is needed...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c538 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to be generous in taking interventions, but the difficulty is that I could end up being ...

Jim Dowd | 443 c539 (Link to this contribution) : On that point, part of the difficulty is that my hon. Friend has not outlined the full statistical...

Nia Griffith | 443 c540 (Link to this contribution) : Is my hon. Friend aware of how much support there is out there among the public for ensuring that ...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c539-40 (Link to this contribution) It would, and the point my hon. Friend raises relates to the biggest gap in the law. There is no off...

Jim Dowd | 443 c541 (Link to this contribution) Much has been made of sentencing—rightly—but if a conviction is not gained first, all the sentencing...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c541 (Link to this contribution) We can do that in Committee, and I am happy to discuss the matter with the hon. Gentlemen. Having se...

Eric Forth | 443 c541-2 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Is there anything that you can do to protect the House and ...

Sharon Hodgson | 443 c541 (Link to this contribution) On that point, will the guidelines include a mandatory minimum sentence for assaults on emergency wo...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c540-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. That is one reason for this Government introducing powers to appeal against...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c541 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to be helpful. What the Minister has just said is reassuring. However, I have still not ...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c541 (Link to this contribution) We have some powerful minimum sentences and specific legislation for knife use. Those underpin the a...

Angela Watkinson | 443 c515 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. How far the employer can be responsible for the un...

Ann Keen | 443 c515-6 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) on coming so high in...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c516 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the right hon. Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams). As he knows, this issue has b...

Alan Williams | 443 c516 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for informing me, when I took the Bill on, that work was in prog...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c516-7 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his recognition. It gives me great pleasure that we are discuss...

Tobias Ellwood | 443 c517-8 (Link to this contribution) The incidents that I have been made aware of are to do with binge-drinking, or drink-related violenc...

Lord Stunell | 443 c514 (Link to this contribution) I was following the hon. Lady’s remarks carefully, and I was interested in her comments about Member...

Angela Watkinson | 443 c514 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention, as that was going to be my next point. Not havin...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c514-5 (Link to this contribution) I have listened carefully to the hon. Lady’s argument, and she has made legitimate and valid points....

Angela Watkinson | 443 c514 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, a large proportion of visits to MPs’ surgeries are recreational, but do...

Stephen Pound | 443 c519 (Link to this contribution) Three hours it is then.

Speaker | 443 c518 (Link to this contribution) Order. I assure the hon. Gentleman that I will endeavour to ensure that we do not go too far down th...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c518-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank you for your direction, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I was not aware that Tim Martin had said that. H...

Andrew Dismore | 443 c519-20 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend says, three hours it is then. I am chair of the Fire Brigades Union parliamentary...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c518 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is taking us into a different area, which I do not think is the subject of today’...

Jim Dowd | 443 c518 (Link to this contribution) I just wondered whether the hon. Gentleman was aware that the managing director of the Wetherspoon’s...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c518 (Link to this contribution) I will but I do not want to go too far down that route.

Jim Dowd | 443 c518 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Eric Forth | 443 c513-4 (Link to this contribution) I follow my hon. Friend’s argument about assault, and I think that the right hon. Member for Swansea...

Alan Williams | 443 c512 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. The advantage of dialogue between Ministe...

Angela Watkinson | 443 c513 (Link to this contribution) I commend the right hon. Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) on his good intentions in introduci...

Alan Williams | 443 c512 (Link to this contribution) I honestly do not know the answer, although I shall try to establish it. My hon. Friend the Minister...

Alan Williams | 443 c512 (Link to this contribution) With respect, the right hon. Gentleman has anticipated what I was about to say. I wonder how imparti...

Jim McGovern | 443 c512 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentioned protection for emergency workers. I am intrigued by whether community...

Eric Forth | 443 c511 (Link to this contribution) I thought I heard the right hon. Gentleman say that the Minister has given him an undertaking that m...

Alan Williams | 443 c511 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says, ““Oh!””, but he said he supports the Bill. The choice I had to make, ...

Eric Forth | 443 c511 (Link to this contribution) Oh!

Alan Williams | 443 c510 (Link to this contribution) Yes, and an important one. The emergency services welcome the Bill as an important addition to their...

Lord Willis of Knaresborough | 443 c510 (Link to this contribution) I am interested, too, in the point made by the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Fo...

Alan Williams | 443 c510 (Link to this contribution) The Bill gives us an immediate vehicle to achieve the desired result, so that ceases to be necessary...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c510 (Link to this contribution) May I bring to my right hon. Friend’s attention an incident that occurred in the west midlands? A yo...

Alan Williams | 443 c510-1 (Link to this contribution) The aim is to address such incidents when they happen, and, more importantly, to stop them happening...

Jim McGovern | 443 c509 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend on coming so high in the ballot and introducing such a worthwhil...

Alan Williams | 443 c509 (Link to this contribution) Being a non-lawyer and being instinctively lazy, having discovered that there was a working and work...

Eric Forth | 443 c509 (Link to this contribution) Good for you!

Alan Williams | 443 c509-10 (Link to this contribution) Rest assured—the Scottish experience has been very much taken into account. The chief fire officer ...

David Kidney | 443 c510 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentioned the impeding offence. Is that not the assurance that the right hon. M...

Alan Williams | 443 c508 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I do not know what the statistical odds are...

Alan Williams | 443 c508-9 (Link to this contribution) One of our greatest missions in life is to make the right hon. Gentleman happy. I think he will leav...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c547 (Link to this contribution) Our aim is to try to construct a simple offence. I have described at length the difficulty if an off...

Alan Williams | 443 c548-9 (Link to this contribution) With the leave of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I shall make a few brief comments. First, I thank e...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c547-8 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. It is a complete outrage that people who serve the public should be subject to the type ...

Ann Keen | 443 c547 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill will also send a message to the relatives of the work force—...

Speaker | 443 c549 (Link to this contribution) I understand that that statement is due to be made to the House today. I have no knowledge about whe...

Adrian Bailey | 443 c524-5 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) on introducing this ...

Andrew Dismore | 443 c519 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) on having the perspi...

Sharon Hodgson | 443 c547 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend clarify whether the umbrella definition of emergency workers will include nurses...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c535 (Link to this contribution) No, I am absolutely certain that they add a great deal to the law. Let me say why, and explain why t...

Fiona Mactaggart | 443 c537 (Link to this contribution) I am, of course, willing to give those people extra protection—the debate is about the most effectiv...

Richard Younger-Ross | 443 c512 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the Government pointed out in their discussions with the right hon. Gentleman the f...

Eric Forth | 443 c508 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry for interrupting the right hon. Gentleman so early but I hope that he will reassure those...

Subjects

Crimes of violence

Anti-social behaviour

Health services

Emergency services

Fire and rescue services

Protection

Sentencing

Safety

Legislation

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill 2005-06

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk