Duty To Protect Update

Last week, the Government published its response to consultation on the proposed Duty To Protect legislation. The proposal consultation took place as a result of Martyn’s Law, a campaign by the mother of Martyn Hett who died in the Manchester Arena attack in May 2017.

The legislation looks to add greater security measures to premises and locations accessible by the public, introducing compulsory mitigating measures to protect the public from risk of terrorist attack. This could apply shops, cafes, restaurants and hotels as well as open spaces such as squares, busy thoroughfares and parks, with the onus on land and property owners as well as individual businesses to comply. BakerStreetQ has been working with West End Security Group (WESG) to understand the implications of the proposed legislation for the area and our members and will be circulating information in due course.

Consultation on the proposed legislation took place from February to July 2021 and was open to the public but particularly encouraged responses from those who own or operate publicly accessible locations. The document released last week by the Government sets out the responses to this consultation and will be used to further develop and shape policy proposals for the legislation going forward. The Government has not yet indicated a legislative timetable. You can read the response in full here.

If you have any queries, please do get in touch at [email protected].