If I may use the phraseology of my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove), let me say that it is a pleasure to follow the dollop of common sense that is my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge). [Interruption.] It is a positive thing. I also wish to congratulate the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), who is far from being a dollop in any way imaginable, on introducing the Bill and, most importantly, on the constructive tone he has taken in advancing it, working on a cross-party basis. That speaks volumes about his approach and the degree of respect in which he is held across the whole House.
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That brings me on to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), who made some very valid arguments. As I said earlier, I am, surprisingly, in agreement with him. In particular, I have great sympathy with his new clauses 1 and 2 on sentencing penalties, and new clauses 4 to 6 on automatic release. I am keen to hear the Minister’s response on those new clauses. I also wish to applaud the work done by the Public Bill Committee to broaden the scope of this Bill so that it goes beyond the original intent of addressing health work to cover the whole remit of emergency workers.
That this Bill is even necessary is regrettable, but sadly the statistics on the rise in assaults against emergency service workers suggest that the current law may not be going far enough in protecting those workers and demonstrating how serious an offence assaulting one is. A GMB survey of ambulance workers recently found that 72% have been attacked while on duty and 94% were aware of attacks on their colleagues. Since 2012, there have been 1,597 physical assaults reported by West Midlands ambulance workers alone, and physical assaults on NHS staff in England increased by 9.7% last year.
As I mentioned earlier, Long Lartin prison is in my constituency, so hon. Members will understand that I have a particular interest in assaults on prison staff. I therefore have sympathy with new clause 9, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley, which would mean that a prisoner serving less than 12 months who assaults a prison officer would not be eligible for automatic release. I am also sympathetic to his new clauses 14 to 18, which are similar. An average of 23 attacks on prison staff are recorded every day in the UK, and the number of assaults on prison staff in England and Wales during the last three months of 2017 was the highest quarterly tally on record.
Unfortunately, I have heard from my own constituents about being assaulted while working in Long Lartin, which is a high-security prison and, as such, contains some of the most troubled and aggressive inmates in the country. It is a sad fact that this aggression is all too frequently targeted towards prison staff, and some attacks against Long Lartin staff have regrettably gained national attention. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the prison officers and staff who serve with such professionalism at Long Lartin, and I take my responsibility seriously as an MP to help make sure that they can work in a safe environment—that means having both adequate resources and adequate laws.
Nationally, a police officer is assaulted every four minutes. Across my region of West Mercia there has been a 10% increase in incidents involving on-duty
personnel, and on average there are two incidents each day. In an effort to counter the increasing incidents involving police in West Mercia, my local police and crime commissioner, John Campion, has launched a campaign called “Behind the Badge” and explained that he has done so because he wants
“the public to see the person behind the police badge”.
Although statistics are useful in demonstrating the scale of the issue, it is important that we do not lose sight of the fact that each number represents an individual person. As a police constable in West Mercia, who was the victim of an assault, said,
“we are human, just like everybody else, and we have a job to do. If nothing else, just remember that I have got a family that I would like to go back to.”