Martyn’s Law/Protect Duty – How Poppleston Allen can help you. Plus free webinar invitation

IMPORTANT 2024 UPDATE: Following the dissolution of Parliament for the General Election the introduction of Martyn’s Law (officially known as the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill ) has been delayed. However, both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have committed, should they lead the next Government, to bringing the draft Bill before Parliament for debate as a matter of priority.

“Readers will recall that we announced the government had published a draft version of Martyn’s Law in our e-news of the 2nd of May this year.

The draft Bill, officially entitled the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Draft Bill, also known as the Protect Duty, will impose a requirement on owners and operators of certain locations to increase their preparedness for and protection from a terrorist attack by requiring them to take proportionate steps, depending on the size and nature of the activities that take place there. The main requirements for standard tier venues (100-799 capacity) will be to prepare a Terrorism Evaluation and to provide Terrorism Training to all workers.

Update on Martyn’s Law

The draft bill has been thoroughly considered by the Home Affairs Select Committee, who heard evidence from trade, government and security representatives and others closely involved with Martyn’s Law. The Home Affairs Select Committee will be making recommendations to the government on any amendments it considers appropriate and we await both those recommendations and the government’s response in due course. As it stands, Martyn’s Law is likely to be laid before Parliament later this year in perhaps an amended form to the draft bill already published and will then be subject to further scrutiny in both Houses of Parliament. It is envisaged that Martyn’s Law in its final form will become law at some point in 2024 followed by a lead time of approximately one year to allow the tens of thousands of venues, events, locations and institutions affected to prepare for the new requirements.

Having watched the Home Affairs Select Committee evidence sessions it is clear that whilst the principle of a Protect Duty is almost universally supported, the devil is in the detail, and how the law will impact smaller venues and businesses is very much a live topic. This may result in changes being made to the current version of the Bill.

How Poppleston Allen can help you prepare for Martyn’s Law.

Poppleston Allen are well aware of the concerns you may have about the implications and costs of complying with Martyn’s Law. That is why we are working closely with an industry leader in counterterrorism and security who has been involved with Martyn’s Law from the beginning to provide a digital package that:

• Will allow users to access a constantly updated sector-specific threat assessment
• undertake a self-evaluation of their vulnerability to terrorism
• read simplified guidance on what to do about security weaknesses, and
• create a plan in line with the proposed regulatory structure of Think, Plan, Activate.

In the meantime, we are hosting a webinar about Martyn’s Law with Nick Aldworth, security and counter-terrorism national thought leader on 17th August 2023.

If you are interested in attending the webinar click here to register.

If you want to receive specific updates about Martyn’s Law and the digital service that our security partner is planning to offer then please email us on martynslaw@popall.co.uk

In the meantime we will continue to keep you updated as Martyn’s Law is considered by the Home Office and, we anticipate, the Bill is laid before Parliament later in the year.