Oral Answers to Questions

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2020 Commons Chamber

The Attorney General was asked—

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

1. What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the handling by the CPS of emergency workers' assault cases during the covid-19 outbreak.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Con)]

6. What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the handling by the CPS of emergency workers' assault cases during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Attorney General (Suella Braverman)]

A disappointing feature of this pandemic is the number of assaults on emergency workers, but I am reassured by the robust approach that the Crown Prosecution Service has taken. During the first month of lockdown, the CPS prosecuted more than 300 cases of assaults against emergency workers. It is clear that, when an individual threatens to infect an emergency worker by deliberately coughing or spitting, it will be treated extremely seriously by prosecutors.

[Craig Whittaker]

The scenes experienced here in London yesterday show us at first hand the total disregard that some people have for our emergency workers, not least by flouting the social distancing rules and showing a total disregard of the safety of our frontline officers. What is just as disturbing is that one of our own colleagues allegedly decided to disregard social distancing yesterday and put all the House staff at risk, not to mention his own colleagues. Can my right hon. Friend say what changes have been made to our CPS arrangements for charging offences against emergency workers?

[The Attorney General]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. I know people out there are feeling pain and anger. They must know that their lives matter—all lives matter—but violence and aggression are not the way forward. We are living through an unprecedented pandemic. The police are doing a heroic job in difficult circumstances and I urge people to follow the social distancing guidelines so that lives are saved. The Crown Prosecution Service issued an interim charging protocol earlier this year, which made it clear that covid-related offences are to be prioritised with an immediate charging decision, and I am glad that we have seen some robust approaches to such offences.