It is a delight to follow my hon. Friend the Member for North Warwickshire (Craig Tracey). I echo the gratitude that has been expressed to the hon. Members for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) and for Halifax (Holly Lynch) for all their sterling work on the Bill and their work with the Government to get us here today, and I hope that the whole House will support them.
I support the Bill, and I also support amendment 3 in particular, which I will talk about later. I also echo the support of some Members for the sentiment expressed my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies). He raised some very good points regarding automatic release, but that is a broader debate that we should have in a wider realm, as it would have many ramifications. We should look at that matter separately, rather than diluting and potentially destroying the Bill. Without these amendments and new clauses, the Bill will send a strong message to emergency workers that the actions we are discussing will not be tolerated, and it will give prosecutors powerful tools. That is the message that has come from the emergency workers across my own constituency. They have spoken to me about their own ordeals and about how they recognise the importance of our passing the Bill today.
It is true that attacking a person serving the public is already an aggravating factor in sentencing guidelines, but this Bill will put on a statutory basis a specific requirement to consider assault on emergency workers as aggravated. We have heard many stories today in the Chamber of heroes and heroines whose brave acts to protect us have basically been a part of their everyday jobs and lives, yet they have faced assaults for simply trying to do their job of helping others. That has happened in the Chippenham constituency, but it also happens up and down the country every year. It is only right that we stand up for our emergency service workers in the way they stand up for us. I hope that the Bill will help us to do that. The fact that it has cross-party support sends a message to emergency workers that we are supporting them and standing up for them. It is time for us to protect the protectors—a phrase used throughout the debate today—and ensure that they have the full protection of the law in carrying out their duties. The Police Federation used that apt phrase when it launched its own campaign.
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I will be supporting amendment 3, which would make a sexual attack on an emergency worker an aggravated offence. That is the right thing to do. Sexual assault is a heinous crime, as the amendment recognises. Shockingly, assaults on emergency workers are not uncommon, and assaults specifically on NHS workers have been rising, with 70,000 recorded attacks on hospital staff in 2016. According to Home Office figures, 2016-17 saw 738 incidents involving an attack on firefighters, resulting in 56 injuries. Unison and other unions have been calling for action in that respect. I echo the comments of Roy Wilsher, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, who said that
“any attack on firefighters is one too many and we cannot tolerate this continuing to happen. I am also deeply concerned by the number of attacks on our emergency service paramedic and police colleagues.”
I agree with him that one is simply too many. I welcome anything that this House can do to send a message and to provide more tools to combat such behaviour.
The Home Office has estimated that there were 24,000 assaults on police officers in England and Wales in 2016-17. The Police Federation’s report suggests that there were more than 2 million unarmed physical assaults on officers over 12 months and a further 302,000 assaults using a deadly weapon. Those figures mean it is estimated
that there is an assault on a police officer every four minutes. It is not only the actual incident but the emotional and physical long-term effects that we need to think about. An incident can happen within five minutes, but the ramifications can last for five years. The human impact on our services is the most important things.