§ Lord Lyellasked Her Majesty's Government:
What conclusions they have reached following the recent six-month survey into sentencing for assaults on the police.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)We have published the results of the survey, which covered the last six months of 1991 and was conducted with the assistance of the Crown Prosecution Service, in the Home Office Bulletin issue 3/92Sentencing for Assault on a Police Officer, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The survey demonstrates that the courts clearly recognise that assaults on police officers are despicable and deserve to be punished more severely, immediate custody being imposed for a significantly higher proportion of the assaults on the police covered in the survey than for assaults on all victims in 1990.
The Government are committed to protecting our protectors, who have a difficult job to do on our behalf. We are setting up a working group to review the physical protection of the police. We are sure that the group, which will involve police representatives, will have a valuable contribution to make to improving still further the protection from attack available to the police, the need for which has been recognised by the Government and the courts.