Written evidence submitted by the Co-operative
Group
DRAFT SENTENCING
GUIDELINE ON
ASSAULT
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group is owned by more than five
million consumers and is the UK's fifth largest food retailer
following the acquisition of the Somerfield supermarket chain
in March 2009 and operates one of the largest and most diversified
financial mutual businesses comprising The Co-operative Bank,
The Co-operative Insurance and Britannia. We are also a leading
provider of travel, pharmacy services and funerals. Our annual
turnover is £14 billion, and we employ more than 120,000
staff, operate around 5,000 retail trading outlets and handle
more than 20 million weekly transactions.
We aim to be transparent and responsible, putting
co-operative values and principles into everyday practice. We
also seek to enhance the lives of our people, members, customers,
and the communities in which we trade.
As such The Co-operative is constantly seeking and
implementing innovation to reduce crime and issues of anti-social
behaviour. We have led the way in working in partnership with
police and community support officers, providing back office space
and free cups of tea to encourage their visibility in the local
community. We have pioneered the use of classical music to deal
with anti-social behaviour and we have developed a unique training
programme for colleagues in-store around conflict avoidance, empowering
staff to take the right decisions when faced with potential conflict
situations.
We would like to make the Committee aware of the
following short general points in relation to this inquiry.
Sentencing guidelines for assault
Due to The Co-operative Group's proactive response
to crime, we have bucked the industry trend in terms of overall
physical and verbal assaults of our colleagues in store. But physical
assault in convenience retail remains a very real problem and
we would caution against any moves to treat assault less seriously
than at present or to move away from custodial sentences for serious
offences.
A recent Usdaw survey has revealed that in the past
12 months, 6% of shopworkers have been subjected to a violent
attack. The Co-operative Group recognises the role of appropriate
sentencing in ensuring that such figures drop and that people
in the course of their jobs should be adequately protected in
the law.
Overall, sentencing guidelines fail to take into
consideration in a documented fashion, a person assaulted in the
course of their employment. Whilst Magistrates may consider that
an assault against a shopworker or for example a bus driver would
aggravate the culpability, if it is not spelled out in the sentencing
guidelines, Magistrates may not necessary put the two together.
It is also of concern that a "single push, shove
or blow", are currently listed as factors indicating lower
culpability. It is taken therefore, that when a shop worker is
pushed, shoved or sustains a single blow as a result of refusing
an underage sale or selling alcohol to a person believed to be
drunk, the offender would only receive a fine (providing no other
aggravating factors are evident), despite the fact that the employee
was enforcing legislation. Whilst it is appreciated that sentencing
considerations should be given to the level of the assault, it
cannot be accepted that an offender in these circumstances has
a lower culpability and therefore a lower sentencing starting
point.
Assault in the course of a persons employment should
be explicitly included in any new sentencing guideline and we
should not rely upon magistrates to automatically classify 'providing
a service to the public' as general employment and therefore cover
our concerns.
The Co-operative Group supports Hugh Henry MSP's
Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill, which covers this particular
matter and would urge the Committee to look carefully at what
the Bill aims to achieve and to encourage Ministers to take similar
measures across all of the UK.
November 2010
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