(Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab): It is a
pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Murray. I take this
opportunity to thank all the emergency service workers the length
and breadth of this country for the vital work they do day and
night, under what must be incredibly difficult circumstances. I
know first hand from my experiences as an MP and as a resident of
Hull West and Hessle how dedicated and conscientious they all are:
every day, they put their personal safety second to that of the
public they serve. I will quickly mention the 12 officers of
Humberside Policewho have been nominated this year
for the national police bravery awards in recognition of their
heroism. I give my personal thanks to , our police and crime commissioner; Chris Blacksell, the
chief fire officer; Lee Freeman, the chief constable; all the
officers, staff and prison officers; and of course everybody
working in the NHS.
The sad fact is that nationally, assaults on police officers
increased by 20% during the first period of lockdown, and many
officers will doubtless be worried when looking forward to the
next four weeks. I want to share a couple of statistics with the
Minister: first, from January 2018 to December 2019, 999
Humberside Police officers were assaulted in the
line of duty. They were punched, kicked, spat at, verbally abused
and bitten, and suffered bruising, cuts, swelling and even broken
bones, as did our firefighters and paramedics. During the period
from April 2018 to March 2019, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service
reported a total of 17 attacks, 11 of which were attacks against
firefighters. Last year, on average, a prison officer was
assaulted every hour, 24 hours a day...
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