David Simmonds

I think proportionality encompasses exactly that question—a question that our public health professionals and our public services have to address every single day, with every patient that they see and with every organisational review that they undertake: what is the cost, benefit and consequence of this, especially when it involves taking a member of staff away from dealing directly with someone who might be in a moment of crisis, to undertake training on a different subject? What is the overall impact, and how do we make sure that those resources are best used? Quite rightly, the hon. Member for North Durham and other contributors focused mainly on the impact on the public—the fact that this is a public service and what it means to those people who may be in a moment of crisis. However, it is also valuable to remember the contributions that touched on the impact on the firefighters and public servants more broadly. I am very conscious, from the work that I did on the impact of child sexual exploitation that it was about both making sure that people understood the signs in children and in families, and the indicators of risk that meant intervention was required, and also understanding the cumulative impact of dealing with incredibly difficult issues on someone’s mental health and wellbeing, and on their ability to do a professional job to a high standard. The hon. Member for North Durham very nicely encompassed this point and my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley and Ilkley touched on it as well: this is also about us, as employers of public servants, making sure that we exercise an appropriate duty of care for the people who are doing this incredibly difficult job on behalf of our society, and that they have the skills, tools and training that they need to cope with the things that that will require them to do.