Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will conduct a review into the reasons for the increased number of assaults on police officers.

Any assault on a police officer is completely unacceptable. In order to improve the accuracy of data on assaults on police officers, from 2017, police forces have included the number of assaults with injury on a police officer as part of their recorded crime data. This has been an important step towards obtaining a much better picture of the total number of assaults on police officers. We also welcome the recent publication of the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Officer and Staff Safety Review and will continue to work closely with policing partners to consider the recommendations in the report.

Assaults specifically against emergency workers, including police officers, are punishable by up to 12 months in prison and could be charged as common assault. This Government recently announced our intention to double the maximum sentence for assaults on emergency workers, showing our commitment to ensuring these attacks are not tolerated.

We have also accelerated our work to introduce a Police Covenant, recognising the service and sacrifice of those who work, or have worked, in policing and to deliver the practical support they need. The key areas of focus will be physical protection, health and wellbeing and support for families.