Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of reported assaults on NHS staff have resulted in prosecution in the last 12 months.

Assaults can be prosecuted under a range of offences such as common assault, actual bodily harm (ABH) or grievous bodily harm (GBH). The Ministry of Justice does not, however, collate data on the profession of the victim. To do so could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

By way of example, data is collated on defendants who are prosecuted and convicted of an assault against an emergency worker. Data on those convicted of such assaults, up to 30 June 2024, can be found in the principal offence proceedings and ‘Outcomes by Offence’ data tool, available at: Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2024. In the “Outcomes by Offences” document, select the `Overall volumes’ page, then select the offence filter. Select “8.22 Assault of an emergency worker”. The number of convictions for an assault against an emergency worker for each year can be found in the `Convicted’ row.