PROTECTION OF WORKERS SERVING THE PUBLIC

That this House is appalled at levels of violence suffered by workers who deal with the public, as evidenced in the 2013 survey from the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, which showed that four per cent of shopworkers had been physically attacked in the previous 12 months and 35 per cent had been threatened with violence, and at the traumatising effects of these incidents for staff who have to face the continual possibility of attack or abuse throughout their working day as they are on the frontline of dealing with the public; is concerned at the paltry level of sentences meted out to offenders, often with a suspended sentence or with no custodial element; and calls on the Government to introduce a specific offence of assaulting a worker who is serving the public in order to ensure that victims of such violence are given the justice they deserve and to provide a deterrent.