VIOLENCE AT WORK

That this House notes with concern the publication of UNISON's annual Violence at Work Survey 2016, which shows that over 40,000 violent assaults against public service workers in Scotland were recorded over the last year; further notes that for employees of Scottish local authorities alone, the number of violent assaults has increased from 13,206 to 17,605 in the last year; believes that this is a shameful statistic and that it is unacceptable for workers to be exposed to such levels of abuse in their workplaces; further believes that the high incidence of abuse is linked to cuts to local authority budgets due to UK and Scottish Government policy decisions, which have resulted in reductions to essential funding and cuts to vital services; recognises that public service workers continue to perform vital functions to a high standard, despite being subjected to increased abuse and sustained cuts with negligible increases in pay; and calls on the Government to end austerity to ensure public services are protected and public service workers can go to work free from the threat of violence and abuse.