Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what steps she is taking with the CPS to improve prosecution rates for offences against retail and emergency workers.

The CPS treats assaults against retail and emergency workers extremely seriously. In accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, charges are selected to reflect the seriousness and extent of the offending and give the court adequate powers to sentence.

The CPS is a signatory to a Joint Agreement on Offences against Emergency Workers which provides a framework to ensure the more effective investigation and prosecution of cases where emergency workers are the victim of a crime. It also sets the standards victims of these crimes can expect.

The CPS has issued legal guidance to prosecutors on the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018. This guidance highlights that the Act requires courts to consider an offence against an emergency worker as an aggravating factor in sentencing. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 has extended the statutory aggravating factor cover to assaults on those providing a public service including those who provide goods or facilities to the public.