Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006

Richard Younger-Ross
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions there have been under the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle
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.