Contribution
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing this debate. Every day, across our country, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, ambulance crews, nurses, doctors and, as we have heard today, lifeguards put themselves in difficult and dangerous situations to protect and look after us all. They are there for us on our worst days and they have dedicated their lives to serving their communities.
This summer, our firefighters in Suffolk demonstrated the very best of us when they responded to the fire at Dunwich Heath. They put themselves in harm’s way working long, brutal hours to protect our communities and our precious environment. Their work was nothing short of heroic. Far too many emergency workers are subject to violence, abuse and intimidation on a daily basis. In 2025, nearly one in five respondents to the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS foundation trust staff survey said they had personally experienced violence at work and almost 30% had personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse. Furthermore, staff from ethnic minority backgrounds experienced disproportionately high levels of abuse.
I am afraid to say that the figures for the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS foundation trust, which runs our hospitals, were little better. Around 15% of our staff experienced violence, and more than a quarter of those experience harassment, bullying or abuse. Those figures are already shocking, but they are especially shocking when we consider who is on the receiving end. These are people who give so much to others every day: nurses caring for patients throughout the night, mental health professionals supporting the most vulnerable people in our society and doctors providing essential day-to-day care. No one should face abuse or violence simply for going to work.
I have seen their dedication first hand. Earlier this year, I joined Sam and George from the East of England ambulance service as they responded to calls from people across Ipswich. Throughout the morning, I saw the professionalism, compassion and dedication they brought to every call, but I know people like Sam and George continue to face unacceptable levels of abuse. In 2023 alone, there were nearly 1,500 recorded attacks on East of England ambulance service staff.
Police officers in Suffolk face increasing levels of violence, too. In the 12 months leading to April ’26, Suffolk police officers were assaulted at least 622 times. That includes hundreds of physical assaults, verbal abuse and intimidation. These people went to work to help people, not to become victims themselves.
If we are honest, the likelihood is that the true figures are much higher. Incidents go unreported because it is deemed to be part of the job, but abuse should never be part of the job. No one should expect and accept harassment as part of their day-to-day life, no one should accept violence as something they have to put up with, and no one should accept intimidation as something that is normal.
That is why the measures introduced in the Crime and Policing Act are so important. For too long there was a glaring loophole in the law. Our changes will ensure that the same protections apply in all settings, and that those who abuse our emergency workers face serious consequences. That sends an important message: abuse is abuse, wherever it happens, and emergency workers deserve our protection, wherever they serve.
Whether they are ambulance crews, NHS staff, police officers, firefighters or lifeguards, our emergency workers want to be able to do their job safely and return home to their families at the end of their shift. That is not an unreasonable demand. Those people take huge risks to keep us safe, and we ask an extraordinary amount of them. They deserve our protection. I hope this debate serves as a reminder not only of the challenges that emergency workers face, but of the immense debt of gratitude that we all owe them.