6th July 2021
This consultation is part of the Government’s commitment to improve the safety and security of public venues. It considers how this could be improved through a Protect Duty that requires reasonable and not overly burdensome security measures.
Our response, which can be read in full here, made the following key points:
- We recognise that the threat from terrorism is significant and is not easy to mitigate. We agree with the intentions of the Duty to keep the public as safe as practically possible.
- We consider that the capacity limits to being in scope should be at least 500+.
- We consider that the Duty should be based on guidance, training and awareness rather than being legislative.
- Additional training and awareness requirements should be Government funded using an accredited provider for consistency.
- We believe the implementation of the Duty could have unintended consequences on several insurance covers for those in scope.
- The implementation of the Duty needs to be considered against the backdrop of businesses recovering from the pandemic who remain under very considerable financial pressures.
- We consider some areas of the Duty require further clarification.
You can access the Home Office’s consultation pages here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/protect-duty