To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions under the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 have been made since its introduction; and what the outcome of those prosecutions has been. (203336)

I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave on 20 February 2008, Official Report, column 778W to the hon. Member for Teignbridge (Richard Younger-Ross).

The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 came into force on 20 February 2007. We do not yet have prosecution figures covering 2007. We would expect the number of prosecutions to be small. Any act involving violence against emergency workers would be covered by the general law on assault and the new offence is limited to obstruction only.