§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 30 October 2000,Official Report, column 242W, on hospital staff assaults, how 737W many of the violent incidents against NHS trust staff in 1998–99 led to (a) prosecution and (b) conviction. [137968]
§ Mr. DenhamThe information requested is not held centrally. The cross-Government National Health Service zero tolerance zone campaign, to stamp out violence against staff working in the National Health Service, has been strongly supported by my right hon. Friends the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney-General. The campaign makes clearer that employers need to work with the police, magistrates and the Crown Prosecution Service in order to apply a zero tolerance on violence against staff.
At the launch of the campaign last year, the Lord Chancellor said it was entirely legitimate for magistrates to respond decisively to a particular form of criminal behaviour, such as assaults on National Health Service staff, and to impose sentences which have deterrent components. New national sentencing guidelines issued to the Magistrates Courts in September underline our commitment to tackle violence against National Health Service staff. The guidelines now include as aggravating factors, to be taken into account when sentencing, whether the offence occurred in hospital or medical premises and whether the victim was serving the public.