Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of assaults in fast-food outlets at (a) night and (b) other times.

Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For assaults in fast-food outlets, this could include reviewing CCTV evidence and using the Police National Database for facial searches to identify suspects where appropriate to do so.

The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any public-facing worker is never acceptable. We take this issue very seriously and recognise the implications these incidents can have on businesses as well as the victims.

The Government took a significant step and legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences.

We have record ever police numbers across England and Wales.