Rachel Parker, Director, AEV
On Tuesday 7th November, the King’s Speech set out the programme of legislation that the Government intends to pursue in the forthcoming Parliamentary session. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill was included. The Bill is also known as ‘Martyn’s Law’ in tribute to Martyn Hett, who was tragically killed alongside 21 others in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017.
Ahead of introduction to Parliament, the government intends to launch a public consultation on the standard tier ensuring the Bill strikes the right balance between public protection and avoiding undue burdens on smaller premises, such as village halls and other community venues.
Martyn’s Law will improve protective security and organisational preparedness across the UK by mandating, for the first time, those responsible for certain premises and events to consider the terrorist risk and how they would respond to an attack.
Any Public Accessible Location is a potential target. It is essential that owners and operators of all such locations understand the risks faced and consider appropriate mitigations.
The key initial steps to understanding this threat and risk are:
There have been 14 terror attacks in the UK since the start of 2017.
The threat picture is complex, evolving, and enduring, with terrorists choosing to attack a broad range of locations.
Martyn’s Law will improve the safety and security of public venues and keep the British public safe from terrorism.
The Bill will make sure public premises and events are better prepared for, and protected from, terrorist attacks; requiring them to fulfil necessary but proportionate steps according to their capacity size to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack and reduce harm. Through Martyn’s Law, premises will be better prepared and ready to respond in the event of a terrorist attack.
Through Martyn's Law premises will be better prepared, ready to respond, and their staff will know what to do in the event of a terrorist attack.
It will enhance public safety by ensuring there is better preparedness for, and protection from, terrorist attacks. This will be done by mandating, for the first time, who is responsible for considering the risk from terrorism and how they would respond to a terrorist attack at certain premises and events.
The Bill will raise the security standard throughout the UK requiring a base level of security procedures to be in place at premises and events. Our expert security partners strongly consider that even basic knowledge will deliver a wholesale raising of the public safety bar.
This will apply to premises with a capacity between 100 and 799 people. The Government wants to ensure businesses and venues can deliver the standard tier duty rather than imposing conditions upon them that they will struggle to meet.
This will mean the law stands the test of time, and be accessible, proportionate and deliverable for smaller venues.
Ahead of introducing the Bill in Parliament, Government will launch a consultation on the standard tier to ensure the Bill’s measures strike the right balance between public protection and avoiding undue burdens on smaller premises such as village halls, churches and other community venues. This follows concerns raised about the implications of the standard tier through the pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill earlier this year.
Premises and events in the enhanced tier will be required to take steps to ensure preparedness for, and protection from, terrorist attacks.
Those responsible for an enhanced duty premises or qualifying public events must take the following 4 steps:
If enhanced duty premises and qualifying public events do not comply with these requirements, the regulator will be able to issue a maximum fixed penalty of the higher of £18 million or 5 per cent of worldwide revenue.
Since 2017, there have been 14 domestic terror attacks in the UK, and agencies and law enforcement have disrupted 39 late-stage plots.
● Since 2005, there have been at least two attacks against places of worship, with an additional attack conducted directly outside a place of worship (Finsbury Park Mosque).
● Research institute RAND Europe assessed the indirect cost of terrorism in the UK from the five attacks in 2017 to be £3.4 billion (2020-21 prices).
● Independent research conducted in 2019 showed that, without legal compulsion, counter terrorism security efforts are often deprioritised behind other legally required activities (e.g. fire safety). Resulting in inconsistent consideration and application of security processes and measures.
● 70 per cent of respondents to the public consultation in 2021 agreed that those responsible for publicly accessible locations should take appropriate and proportionate measures to protect the public from attacks and should prepare their staff to respond appropriately in the event of a terrorist attack.
Consider what you and your colleagues can do to make it harder for a would-be terrorist to carry out a successful attack by:
Being alert to suspicious behaviour and activity in and around your site, such as people loitering or displaying an unusual level of interest in asking questions, filming or photographing.
Assessing the possible vulnerabilities of your site to various attack methods, and taking suitable measures to mitigate the risks.
Being security-minded in your communications, particularly online.
Encouraging and enabling a security culture in the workplace, eg. ensuring concerns can easily be reported and will be acted upon.
Considering how you and your staff would respond to an incident occurring inside, outside, or near to your building or site.
(Photo: CT operation during Formula E at ExCeL London July 2022)
For further info on the ACT programme, please visit the ACT website.
!!Buyer beware!!
In light of the legislation and scheme still being defined, the final details and requirements are not yet known.
NaCTSO do not endorse any current courses or products that mention supporting either compliance of Martyn's Law or the Competent Persons Scheme. ProtectUK are unable, at this stage, to provide any assurance for third party courses that are not endorsed by NaCTSO, or not hosted on the ProtectUK site unless otherwise specified. Should you or your organisation wish to use products or purchase and attend courses that mention potential up and coming legislation or the scheme, NaCTSO can provide no assurances that these courses will support you in being compliant in the future as there is limited information on the final requirements and scope at this stage.
Read the full statement here
Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) training provides a good introduction on how to respond to suspicious activity.
The ProtectUK app sends real-time news and counter terrorism (CT) incident updates from UK Protect, contains the latest practical advice and guidance to help you protect your business, as well as information on how to respond in the event of an attack.
The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure provides awareness training and guidance in assessing and mitigating the security risks
The AEV security working group (open to all AEV member security professionals) meets monthly to review security issues such as talent, traffic management and anti-terrorism operations at venues. The group has actively shared thoughts on the consultation and submitted a collective view with the National Arenas Association (NAA) and continue to run Protect Duty awareness sessions for members across AEV, AEO and ESSA.
The latest member session, the presentation and recording(s) are available to AEV members through the member zone.
Representation
AEV members are also represented by current working group chair Henry Havis (head of security ExCeL London) on relevant groups hosted by the Home Office/Met Police.
The working group's responsibilities include staying ahead of related legislation and building relationships with key bodies such as CPIE, CPNI, CTBIE, NPoCC, NaCTSO and SIA as well as collaborating on information sharing and best practice.
The information contained on this page is updated as Martyn's Law evolves.
MASA aims to represent the entire events industry and to enable greater and wider outreach of government guidance, especially around counter-terror measures and intelligence.
CHC Global are independent malicious risk advisors offering a unique mix of advisory services, insurance broking and data solutions. They learn from AEV members to better understand their issues and be a conduit for informed advice.
They are members of the PSSA and SIA and operate in the Lloyd’s of London Insurance market. CHC Global also has a presence on the MASA group providing security and CT intelligence and on our AEV security working group to update members on malicious risk trends, the ongoing Protect Duty and global threats.
Download assets from a library of insightful research and guidance.
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/protect-duty
The King's Speech - November 2023
AEV Security working group members
Multi association security awareness (MASA) group members
When reporting/commenting on terrorism, please be mindful of the experiences of victims and their families.
Please include the following support information in reporting:
Support is available for anyone who has been affected by terror attacks.
Visit: victimsofterrorism.campaign.gov.uk or call Victim Support’s 24 hours free support line on 0808 168 9111.
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