Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what steps she has taken to ensure (a) offences against emergency workers are prosecuted and (b) the CPS is effective in prosecuting offenders against emergency workers.

The Law Officers regularly discuss CPS performance across a range of offence types with the DPP, including with relation to offences against emergency workers. This includes scrutiny through the Ministerial Strategic Board.

Our frontline emergency workers provide vital protection to public safety, and it is essential that we also protect them. The CPS works hard to hold perpetrators to account and led on taking 23,628 offences against emergency workers to court in 2019/20.

Protecting emergency workers has also been a focus for the CPS during the pandemic – the DPP has made it clear that when an individual threatens to ‘infect’ an emergency worker by deliberately coughing or spitting, it will be treated extremely seriously by prosecutors.

The Government welcomed the introduction of the interim Charging Protocol by CPS and the police, which came into effect on 1 April 2020. This protocol prioritises assaults against emergency workers, including COVID-19 related offending.