Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to help protect retail workers from physical or verbal abuse in the workplace.

This Government considers a specific new offence of assaulting a retail worker is not needed. A wide range of offences already exist which criminalise threatening or abusive behaviour intended to harass, alarm or distress a person, and which would apply in cases of violence towards people whose work brings them into contact with members of the public. These offences cover the full spectrum of unacceptable behaviour from using abusive language to the most serious and violent offences.

While the sentencing of offenders is extremely important, reporting, investigating and making sure there are consequences for these crimes is much more likely to drive down the numbers of incidents.