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Make
it an offence to assault or impede persons who provide emergency
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services; and for connected
purposes. |
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Be
it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty,
by and with the advice and |
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consent of the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal, and Commons, in this present |
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Parliament assembled, and
by the authority of the same, as follows:— |
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1 |
Assaulting
or impeding certain providers of emergency services |
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(1) |
A person who assaults, obstructs
or hinders another person acting in a capacity |
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mentioned in subsection (3)
below commits an offence. |
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(2) |
No offence is committed
under subsection (1) above unless the person who |
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assaults, obstructs or hinders
knows or ought to know that the person being |
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5 |
assaulted, obstructed or
hindered is acting in that capacity. |
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(3) |
The capacity referred to
in subsection (1) above is— |
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(b) |
that of a fire-fighter who
is an employee of a fire and rescue authority |
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or who is discharging a function
of such an authority under section 15 |
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10 |
or 16 of the Fire
and Rescue Services Act 2004 (c. 21); or |
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(c) |
that of a person acting for
the Secretary of State in the provision of |
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2 |
Assaulting
or impeding certain emergency workers responding to emergency
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15 |
(1) |
A person who assaults, obstructs
or hinders another while that other person is, |
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in a capacity mentioned in
subsection (3) below, responding to emergency |
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circumstances, commits an
offence. |
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(2) |
No offence is committed
under subsection (1) above unless the person who |
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assaults, obstructs or hinders
knows or ought to know that the person being |
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20 |
assaulted, obstructed or
hindered— |
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(a) |
is acting in that capacity;
and |
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(b) |
is or might be responding— |
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(i) |
to
emergency circumstances; or |
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(ii) |
as if there were emergency
circumstances. |
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(3) |
The capacity referred to
in subsection (1) above is— |
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(a) |
that of a prison officer,
that is to say— |
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(i) |
a person who holds a post,
otherwise than as a chaplain or |
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5 |
assistant chaplain or as
a medical officer, to which the person |
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has been appointed for
the purposes of section 7 of the Prison
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Act
1952 (15 & 16 Geo 6 and 1 Eliz 2 c. 52); or |
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(ii) |
a prisoner custody officer
within the meaning of Chapter II of |
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Part VIII of the Criminal
Justice and Public Order Act 1994 |
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(b) |
that of a member of Her Majesty's
Coastguard; |
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(c) |
that of a member of the crew
of a vessel operated by— |
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(i) |
the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution; or |
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(ii) |
any other person or organisation
operating a vessel for the |
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15 |
purpose of providing a
rescue service on a body of water, |
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or a person who musters the
crew of such a vessel or attends to its |
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(d) |
that of a registered medical
practitioner; |
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(e) |
that of a registered nurse; |
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(f) |
that of a registered midwife; |
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(g) |
that of a social worker,
within the meaning given by section 55(2)(a) of |
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the Care
Standards Act 2000 (c. 14), while taking action required
or |
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25 |
(ii) |
a supervision order; |
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(iii) |
a child assessment order;
or |
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(iv) |
an emergency protection
order; or |
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(h) |
that of a an approved social
worker within the meaning given by |
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section 145(1) of the Mental
Health Act 1983 (c. 20). |
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(4) |
For the purposes of this
section and section 3
of this Act, a person is responding |
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to emergency circumstances
if the person— |
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(a) |
is going anywhere for the
purpose of dealing with emergency |
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circumstances occurring there;
or |
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(b) |
is dealing with emergency
circumstances or preparing to do so. |
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(5) |
For the purposes of this
Act, circumstances are "emergency" circumstances if |
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they are present or imminent
and— |
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(a) |
are causing or are likely
to cause— |
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(i) |
serious injury to or the
serious illness (including mental illness) |
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(ii) |
serious harm to the environment
(including the life and health |
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of plants and animals and
the fabric of buildings); or |
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(iii) |
a worsening of any such
injury, illness or harm; or |
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(b) |
are likely to cause the death
of a person. |
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3 |
Assaulting
or impeding persons assisting emergency workers |
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45 |
(1) |
A person who assaults, obstructs
or hinders another in the circumstances |
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described in subsection (2)
below commits an offence. |
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(2) |
Those
circumstances are where the person being assaulted, obstructed
or |
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hindered is assisting another
while that other person is, in a capacity |
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mentioned in section 1(3)
or 2(3)
of this Act, responding to emergency |
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(3) |
No offence is committed
under subsection (1) above unless the person who |
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assaults, obstructs or hinders
knows or ought to know— |
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(a) |
that the person being assisted
is acting in that capacity; |
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(b) |
that the person being assisted
is or might be responding— |
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(i) |
to emergency circumstances;
or |
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(ii) |
as if there were emergency
circumstances; and |
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(c) |
that the person being assaulted,
obstructed or hindered is assisting the |
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person acting in that capacity. |
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4 |
Provisions
supplementary to sections 1
to 3 |
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(1) |
A person may be convicted
of the offence under section 1,
2
or 3
of this Act of |
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obstructing or hindering
notwithstanding that it is— |
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(a) |
effected by means other than
physical means; or |
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(b) |
effected by action directed
only at any vehicle, apparatus, equipment or |
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other thing or any animal
used or to be used by a person referred to in |
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(2) |
A person who gives false
information with the intention that a person acting in |
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a capacity mentioned in subsection
(3) of section 1
of this Act will act upon that |
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information is to be regarded,
for the purposes of that section, as hindering the |
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person acting in that capacity. |
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(3) |
A person who gives false
information with the intention that a person acting in |
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a capacity mentioned in subsection
(3) of section 2
of this Act will, while |
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responding to emergency circumstances
or instead of doing so, act upon that |
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information is to be regarded,
for the purposes of that section, as hindering the |
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person acting in that capacity. |
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(4) |
Subsections (2) and (3)
above do not prejudice the generality of subsection |
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30 |
(5) |
For the purposes of sections
2
and 3
of this Act, circumstances to which a |
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person is responding are
to be taken to be emergency circumstances if the |
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person believes and has reasonable
grounds for believing they are or may be |
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(6) |
Evidence from a single source
is sufficient evidence to establish, for the |
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purposes of section 1,
2
or 3
of this Act, whether a person is acting in a capacity |
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referred to in that section. |
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5 |
Assaulting
or impeding health workers in hospital premises |
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(1) |
A person who, in a hospital
or on land adjacent to and used wholly or mainly |
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for the purposes of a hospital,
assaults, obstructs or hinders a person acting in |
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40 |
a capacity mentioned in subsection
(3) below or a person assisting such a |
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person commits an offence. |
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(2) |
No offence is committed
under subsection (1) above unless the person who |
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assaults, obstructs or hinders
knows or ought to know that the person being |
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assaulted, obstructed or
hindered is acting in that capacity or, as the case may |
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be, that the person being
assisted is acting in that capacity and that the person |
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being assaulted, obstructed
or hindered is assisting the person acting in that |
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(3) |
The capacity referred to
in subsection (1) above is— |
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(a) |
that of a registered medical
practitioner; |
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(b) |
that of a registered nurse; |
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(c) |
that of a registered midwife;
or |
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(d) |
that of a person acting for
the Secretary of State in the provision of |
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(4) |
A person may be convicted
of the offence under subsection (1) above of |
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obstructing or hindering
notwithstanding that it is— |
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(a) |
effected by means other than
physical means; |
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(b) |
effected by action directed
only at any vehicle, apparatus, equipment or |
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other thing used or to be
used by a person referred to in that subsection. |
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(5) |
Evidence from a single source
is sufficient to establish, for the purposes of |
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subsection (1) above, whether
a person is acting in a capacity referred to in |
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(1) |
A person guilty of an offence
under this Act which is committed before the |
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relevant day is liable, on
summary conviction, to imprisonment for a period |
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not exceeding six months
or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale |
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(2) |
A person guilty of an offence
under this Act which is committed on or after the |
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relevant day is liable, on
summary conviction, to imprisonment for a period |
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not exceeding 51 weeks or
to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale |
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25 |
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(3) |
In this section “the
relevant day” is the day on which section 281 of the |
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Criminal
Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) (alteration of penalties
for certain summary |
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offences) comes into force. |
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7 |
Saving
for certain other offences |
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Nothing in this act affects
section 89 of the Police Act 1996
(c. 16) (assaults on |
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constables) or section 44(3)
of the Fire and Rescue Services Act
2004 (c. 21) |
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(obstruction of fire-fighters
in an emergency). |
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(1) |
The Secretary of State may
by order modify this Act by— |
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(a) |
adding a person or description
of person to; or |
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(b) |
removing a person or description
of person from, |
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section
1(3),
2(3)
or 5(3)
of this Act and by making such provision connected |
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with that modification as
he thinks fit. |
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(2) |
The Secretary of State shall
not make an order under subsection (1)(a) above |
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unless it appears to him
that the person to be added (or, as the case may be, |
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each person of the description
to be added) is one whose functions or activities |
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are such that the person
is likely, in the course of them, to have to deal with |
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(3) |
An order under subsection
(1) above is to be made by statutory instrument. |
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(4) |
No such order shall be made
unless a draft of it has been laid before, and |
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approved by a resolution
of, each House of Parliament. |
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5 |
9 |
Short
title, commencement and extent |
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(1) |
This Act may be cited as
the Emergency Workers (Protection) Act 2006. |
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(2) |
This Act (except this section)
comes into force on such day as the Secretary of |
|
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State may, by order made
by statutory instrument, appoint and different days |
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may be so appointed for different
purposes. |
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10 |
(3) |
An order under subsection
(2) above may contain such transitional, transitory |
|
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and saving provision as the
Secretary of State thinks appropriate. |
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(4) |
This Act extends to England
and Wales only. |
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