Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill
Debate between Chris Bryant and Liz McInnesFriday 20th October 2017
(7 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 View all Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Chris Bryant
My hon. Friend is able to read my mind, because that was my next sentence.
Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that the figure for assaults on NHS staff is probably much higher? I know from my experience of working in the NHS that a lot of staff did not report assaults, because they were not confident anything would be done.
Chris Bryant
That is part of the problem that we—and, for that matter, the whole criminal justice system—need to address: all too often, people simply do not feel at the end of the process that they have got justice. When people see those working alongside them not getting justice, with paltry sentences handed down, they of course decide, “I don’t want to have to go through all the grief and the hassle of pressing charges.”