Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in each of the last two years.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders convicted for offences relating to assault on emergency worker, covering the period requested. The latest data available, up to the year ending June 2023, can be obtained with the following data tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.
In the data tool, navigate to ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab and select ‘8.22 Assault of an emergency worker’ in the ‘Offence’ filter.
The pivot table will present the total number of offenders convicted for assaulting an emergency worker since year ending June 2011, including the requested last two years.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were sentenced to prison for assaulting an emergency worker in each year since 2019.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants sentenced to immediate custody for theft offences, common assault and battery, and assault of an emergency worker in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022.
To see how many defendants were sentenced to immediate custody for theft offences, navigate to ‘Sentence outcomes’ tab, select ‘Theft offences’ in the ‘Offence group’ filter, and select ’06: Total immediate custody’ in the ‘Sentence Outcome’ filter.
To see how many defendants were sentenced to immediate custody for common assault and battery, navigate to ‘Sentence outcomes’ tab, select ‘105 Common assault and battery’ in the ‘Offence’ filter, and select ’06: Total immediate custody’ in the ‘Sentence Outcome’ filter.
To see how many people were sentenced to immediate custody for assaulting an emergency worker, navigate to ‘Sentence outcomes’ tab, select ‘8.22 Assault of an emergency worker’ in the ‘Offence’ filter, and select ’06: Total immediate custody’ in the ‘Sentence Outcome’ filter.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people received a custodial sentence for assaulting (a) an emergency worker and (b) a police officer in the course of their duties in each year since 2019.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 created an aggravated offence of common assault or battery when committed against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of their functions as an emergency worker, including a police constable. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased the maximum penalty from 12 months to 2 years’ imprisonment for any offence committed on or after 28 June 2022.
The Police Act 1996 includes an offence of assault of a constable in the execution of his duty, with a maximum penalty of 6 months imprisonment. This offence remains on the statute book as it has broader application than the assaults on emergency workers offence and includes the wilful obstruction of a constable, or the assault of a person assisting a constable. However, there may be circumstances in which this offence remains to be used for an assault on a constable.
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders sentenced and the average custodial sentence length for both offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022, using the following HO codes:
While improving our data processing in 2022, a data mapping issue was discovered in the Courts Proceedings Database whereby an estimated 1,301 convictions (227 in 2019, 530 in 2020 and 544 in 2021) for the offence ‘00873 – Common assault or battery of an emergency worker’ were not correctly mapped to this offence at Crown Court, therefore were not presented in the published data. We are exploring ways to add these convictions to the Outcomes by Offence data tool in future publications. This mapping was corrected in data for 2022 and therefore all data going forward will present correct figures.
There are also several other assault offences which may be charged depending on the level of harm caused including actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, and grievous bodily harm with intent. These are not specific to emergency workers or police officers. However, the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 created a statutory aggravating factor where such offences are committed against an emergency worker
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of custodial sentence was for assaulting (a) an emergency worker, and (b) a police officer in the course of their duties in each year since 2019.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 created an aggravated offence of common assault or battery when committed against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of their functions as an emergency worker, including a police constable. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased the maximum penalty from 12 months to 2 years’ imprisonment for any offence committed on or after 28 June 2022.
The Police Act 1996 includes an offence of assault of a constable in the execution of his duty, with a maximum penalty of 6 months imprisonment. This offence remains on the statute book as it has broader application than the assaults on emergency workers offence and includes the wilful obstruction of a constable, or the assault of a person assisting a constable. However, there may be circumstances in which this offence remains to be used for an assault on a constable.
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders sentenced and the average custodial sentence length for both offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022, using the following HO codes:
While improving our data processing in 2022, a data mapping issue was discovered in the Courts Proceedings Database whereby an estimated 1,301 convictions (227 in 2019, 530 in 2020 and 544 in 2021) for the offence ‘00873 – Common assault or battery of an emergency worker’ were not correctly mapped to this offence at Crown Court, therefore were not presented in the published data. We are exploring ways to add these convictions to the Outcomes by Offence data tool in future publications. This mapping was corrected in data for 2022 and therefore all data going forward will present correct figures.
There are also several other assault offences which may be charged depending on the level of harm caused including actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, and grievous bodily harm with intent. These are not specific to emergency workers or police officers. However, the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 created a statutory aggravating factor where such offences are committed against an emergency worker
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service on increasing prosecutions for assault of emergency workers in Bolton.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Any assault on an emergency worker is unacceptable and I am determined to do everything I can to ensure they are prevented.
As part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, we have brought forward legislation to double the maximum sentence for assaults on emergency workers.
The Office for National Statistics’ Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and its latest estimates shows that the number of incidences of violence has fallen by 41% since the year ending March 2010, to 1.1 million incidences.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice on 18 October 2022 (59996), what issue resulted in undercounting convictions for offences under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018; and whether it was rectified for data published in and after November 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
While improving our data processing in 2022, a data mapping issue was discovered in the Courts Proceedings Database production. As detailed in the Criminal Justice System statistics December 2021 publication, an estimated 3,220 convictions for the offence under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018 were not correctly mapped to the offence of Assault on Emergency Worker between 2019 and 2021 meaning an undercount for that offence in those years. This issue was reflected in the known issues tabs of our published data tools and tables. Convictions in 2018 were not affected.
We fixed the incorrect mapping of 1,919 of these convictions (274 in 2019, 619 in 2020 and 1,026 in 2021) which are presented in the year ending June 2022 edition of the Outcomes by Offence data tool. This means that an estimated undercount of 1,301 convictions for this offence remains (227 in 2019, 530 in 2020 and 544 in 2021). We have quantified the remaining undercount and will explore ways of incorporating this in future publications.
This mapping has been corrected in data for 2022 therefore all data in future years, since the Criminal Justice System statistics June 2022 publication, will present correct figures.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) prosecuted (b) found guilty (c) sentenced to prison for offences under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018 in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022, broken down by gender and ethnicity.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Ministry of Justice publishes these figures on an annual basis on the GOV.UK website in the Magistrates' court data tool (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 17.1 MB) and the Crown Court data tool (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 8.42 MB) as part of the Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2021 publication published in May 2022. However, in the course of ongoing modernisation of our data processing, we have identified an issue resulting in undercounting convictions for the offence in the Crown Court each year. This is highlighted in the ‘known issues’ tab of the above link and, as a result, the Crown Court data tool is missing 501 convictions in 2019, 1,149 in 2020 and 1,570 in 2021.
Therefore, the total number of defendants prosecuted for assaulting an emergency worker in England Wales in 2021 was 17,043, with 14,992 convictions in the same year.
The sentencing outcomes, ethnicities, and sex breakdowns for those convicted at Crown Court are affected by this processing issue and we are working to rectify this in time for our year to June data, published in November 2022.
Figures in the magistrates’ court data tool are not affected by the data processing issue – this includes prosecutions, convictions and sentencing at magistrates’ court as well as those sent for trial or committed for sentence at the Crown Court.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to help protect women and girls in (a) the home environment and (b) public places who are at risk of domestic violence.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is committed to tackling violence against women and girls in all its forms. The landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021 established a wide-ranging statutory definition of domestic abuse that incorporates a range of abusive behaviours beyond physical violence, and brings in important new protections including Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (DAPNs) and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) to provide flexible, longer-term protection for victims from all forms of domestic abuse.
Accompanying this legislation, in July 2022 the Government published detailed statutory guidance outlining the many forms domestic abuse can take to ensure that domestic abuse is properly understood by public agencies seeking to tackle this abhorrent crime and provide adequate support to victims.
In July 2021, the cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy was published to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online and on the streets. In March 2022 we published a complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan in March 2022 which seeks to transform the whole of society’s response to prevent offending, support victims, pursue perpetrators. In the Plan, Government committed to:
To help protect women and girls in public places and raise awareness of VAWG, in March 2022, the Government launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign which seeks to change public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and to help create an atmosphere in which women and girls can report such crimes to the police with confidence.
These measures will strengthen protections and support for women and girls at home and in public places, who are at risk of domestic violence and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
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.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
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.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to mark the contribution of emergency workers killed in the line of duty.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
It is important that we recognise the vital role emergency service workers play in society. This is never more true than when they make the ultimate sacrifice. That is why the government was pleased to support the national memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, and why the Home Secretary and Ministers regularly show their support for the police during commemorative events.
All UK honours and medals are in the personal gift of HM The Queen under the Royal prerogative. The Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medal (HD Committee) gives advice to The Queen on honours matters, including new forms of official national recognition. The Honours and Appointments Secretariat in the Cabinet Office supports the Committee and will consider the options for recognition.