UK Borders Bill

I am not going to prolong this discussion, as I am sure that it could be best dealt with offline. However, I am afraid that the Minister has still not dealt with my point. We are not arguing whether these workers should have adequate protection or about the level of that protection; everybody agrees that the 51 weeks, which is applicable to all summary offences, should be the penalty for assaulting an immigration officer, a Customs official or a police officer. There has not been an occasion as far as I am aware, although I may be wrong, when common assault was subjected to the procedure from the Criminal Justice Act 2003 of raising the level of penalties for all summary offences from six months to 51 weeks and dividing in the manner that has been discussed. If a person commits an assault of any public official he can be charged with common assault and the penalty will be 51 weeks. My question was why we should have a specific offence of assaulting one or other of the three agencies operating at the border when at the end of the day, when someone comes before the magistrate, he gets the same penalty as if he were being charged with common assault. However, I do not wish to waste the Committee’s time in discussing that point. It would be best if we dealt with it offline, and I am happy to leave it to the Minister to drop me a note. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 8 to 12 not moved.] Clause 3 agreed to.