Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

House of Commons

Session 2005 - 06
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

Contents

1

Assaulting or impeding certain providers of emergency services

2

Assaulting or impeding certain emergency workers responding to emergency

circumstances

3

Assaulting or impeding persons assisting emergency workers

4

Provisions supplementary to sections 1 to 3

5

Assaulting or impeding health workers in hospital premises

6

Penalties

7

Saving for certain other offences

8

Power to modify

9

Short title, commencement and extent

Bill 20

54/1

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

1

A

Bill

To

Make it an offence to assault or impede persons who provide emergency

services; and for connected purposes.

Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and

consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present

Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1

Assaulting or impeding certain providers of emergency services

(1)

A person who assaults, obstructs or hinders another person acting in a capacity

mentioned in subsection (3) below commits an offence.

(2)

No offence is committed under subsection (1) above unless the person who

assaults, obstructs or hinders knows or ought to know that the person being

5

assaulted, obstructed or hindered is acting in that capacity.

(3)

The capacity referred to in subsection (1) above is—

(a)

that of a constable;

(b)

that of a fire-fighter who is an employee of a fire and rescue authority

or who is discharging a function of such an authority under section 15

10

or 16 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (c. 21); or

(c)

that of a person acting for the Secretary of State in the provision of

ambulance services.

2

Assaulting or impeding certain emergency workers responding to emergency

circumstances

15

(1)

A person who assaults, obstructs or hinders another while that other person is,

in a capacity mentioned in subsection (3) below, responding to emergency

circumstances, commits an offence.

(2)

No offence is committed under subsection (1) above unless the person who

assaults, obstructs or hinders knows or ought to know that the person being

20

assaulted, obstructed or hindered—

(a)

is acting in that capacity; and

(b)

is or might be responding—

Bill 20 54/1

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

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(i)

to emergency circumstances; or

(ii)

as if there were emergency circumstances.

(3)

The capacity referred to in subsection (1) above is—

(a)

that of a prison officer, that is to say—

(i)

a person who holds a post, otherwise than as a chaplain or

5

assistant chaplain or as a medical officer, to which the person

has been appointed for the purposes of section 7 of the Prison

Act 1952 (15 & 16 Geo 6 and 1 Eliz 2 c. 52); or

(ii)

a prisoner custody officer within the meaning of Chapter II of

Part VIII of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

10

(c. 33);

(b)

that of a member of Her Majesty's Coastguard;

(c)

that of a member of the crew of a vessel operated by—

(i)

the Royal National Lifeboat Institution; or

(ii)

any other person or organisation operating a vessel for the

15

purpose of providing a rescue service on a body of water,



or a person who musters the crew of such a vessel or attends to its

launch;

(d)

that of a registered medical practitioner;

(e)

that of a registered nurse;

20

(f)

that of a registered midwife;

(g)

that of a social worker, within the meaning given by section 55(2)(a) of

the Care Standards Act 2000 (c. 14), while taking action required or

permitted by—

(i)

a care order;

25

(ii)

a supervision order;

(iii)

a child assessment order; or

(iv)

an emergency protection order; or

(h)

that of a an approved social worker within the meaning given by

section 145(1) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (c. 20).

30

(4)

For the purposes of this section and section 3 of this Act, a person is responding

to emergency circumstances if the person—

(a)

is going anywhere for the purpose of dealing with emergency

circumstances occurring there; or

(b)

is dealing with emergency circumstances or preparing to do so.

35

(5)

For the purposes of this Act, circumstances are "emergency" circumstances if

they are present or imminent and—

(a)

are causing or are likely to cause—

(i)

serious injury to or the serious illness (including mental illness)

of a person;

40

(ii)

serious harm to the environment (including the life and health

of plants and animals and the fabric of buildings); or

(iii)

a worsening of any such injury, illness or harm; or

(b)

are likely to cause the death of a person.

3

Assaulting or impeding persons assisting emergency workers

45

(1)

A person who assaults, obstructs or hinders another in the circumstances

described in subsection (2) below commits an offence.

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

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(2)

Those circumstances are where the person being assaulted, obstructed or

hindered is assisting another while that other person is, in a capacity

mentioned in section 1(3) or 2(3) of this Act, responding to emergency

circumstances.

(3)

No offence is committed under subsection (1) above unless the person who

5

assaults, obstructs or hinders knows or ought to know—

(a)

that the person being assisted is acting in that capacity;

(b)

that the person being assisted is or might be responding—

(i)

to emergency circumstances; or

(ii)

as if there were emergency circumstances; and

10

(c)

that the person being assaulted, obstructed or hindered is assisting the

person acting in that capacity.

4

Provisions supplementary to sections 1 to 3

(1)

A person may be convicted of the offence under section 1, 2 or 3 of this Act of

obstructing or hindering notwithstanding that it is—

15

(a)

effected by means other than physical means; or

(b)

effected by action directed only at any vehicle, apparatus, equipment or

other thing or any animal used or to be used by a person referred to in

that section.

(2)

A person who gives false information with the intention that a person acting in

20

a capacity mentioned in subsection (3) of section 1 of this Act will act upon that

information is to be regarded, for the purposes of that section, as hindering the

person acting in that capacity.

(3)

A person who gives false information with the intention that a person acting in

a capacity mentioned in subsection (3) of section 2 of this Act will, while

25

responding to emergency circumstances or instead of doing so, act upon that

information is to be regarded, for the purposes of that section, as hindering the

person acting in that capacity.

(4)

Subsections (2) and (3) above do not prejudice the generality of subsection

(1)(a) above.

30

(5)

For the purposes of sections 2 and 3 of this Act, circumstances to which a

person is responding are to be taken to be emergency circumstances if the

person believes and has reasonable grounds for believing they are or may be

emergency circumstances.

(6)

Evidence from a single source is sufficient evidence to establish, for the

35

purposes of section 1, 2 or 3 of this Act, whether a person is acting in a capacity

referred to in that section.

5

Assaulting or impeding health workers in hospital premises

(1)

A person who, in a hospital or on land adjacent to and used wholly or mainly

for the purposes of a hospital, assaults, obstructs or hinders a person acting in

40

a capacity mentioned in subsection (3) below or a person assisting such a

person commits an offence.

(2)

No offence is committed under subsection (1) above unless the person who

assaults, obstructs or hinders knows or ought to know that the person being

assaulted, obstructed or hindered is acting in that capacity or, as the case may

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Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

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be, that the person being assisted is acting in that capacity and that the person

being assaulted, obstructed or hindered is assisting the person acting in that

capacity.

(3)

The capacity referred to in subsection (1) above is—

(a)

that of a registered medical practitioner;

5

(b)

that of a registered nurse;

(c)

that of a registered midwife; or

(d)

that of a person acting for the Secretary of State in the provision of

ambulance services.

(4)

A person may be convicted of the offence under subsection (1) above of

10

obstructing or hindering notwithstanding that it is—

(a)

effected by means other than physical means;

(b)

effected by action directed only at any vehicle, apparatus, equipment or

other thing used or to be used by a person referred to in that subsection.

(5)

Evidence from a single source is sufficient to establish, for the purposes of

15

subsection (1) above, whether a person is acting in a capacity referred to in

subsection (3) above.

6

Penalties

(1)

A person guilty of an offence under this Act which is committed before the

relevant day is liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a period

20

not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale

or to both.

(2)

A person guilty of an offence under this Act which is committed on or after the

relevant day is liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a period

not exceeding 51 weeks or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale

25

or to both.

(3)

In this section “the relevant day” is the day on which section 281 of the

Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) (alteration of penalties for certain summary

offences) comes into force.

7

Saving for certain other offences

30

Nothing in this act affects section 89 of the Police Act 1996 (c. 16) (assaults on

constables) or section 44(3) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (c. 21)

(obstruction of fire-fighters in an emergency).

8

Power to modify

(1)

The Secretary of State may by order modify this Act by—

35

(a)

adding a person or description of person to; or

(b)

removing a person or description of person from,



section 1(3), 2(3) or 5(3) of this Act and by making such provision connected

with that modification as he thinks fit.

(2)

The Secretary of State shall not make an order under subsection (1)(a) above

40

unless it appears to him that the person to be added (or, as the case may be,

each person of the description to be added) is one whose functions or activities

Emergency Workers (Protection) Bill

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are such that the person is likely, in the course of them, to have to deal with

emergency circumstances.

(3)

An order under subsection (1) above is to be made by statutory instrument.

(4)

No such order shall be made unless a draft of it has been laid before, and

approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.

5

9

Short title, commencement and extent

(1)

This Act may be cited as the Emergency Workers (Protection) Act 2006.

(2)

This Act (except this section) comes into force on such day as the Secretary of

State may, by order made by statutory instrument, appoint and different days

may be so appointed for different purposes.

10

(3)

An order under subsection (2) above may contain such transitional, transitory

and saving provision as the Secretary of State thinks appropriate.

(4)

This Act extends to England and Wales only.