Smaller operators urged to listen to Home Office Webinar’s on Martyn’s Law

Operators wanting to have their voices heard on the impact of Martyn’ Law are being encouraged to listen to a range of Webinar’s provided by the Home Office.

This is part of a consultation of venues in the Standard Tier, which means smaller venues with a capacity of between 100-799 people.

The Standard Tier Consultation on the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, also known as Martyn’s Law was launched on Monday 5 February and will run for 6 weeks. It can be found here Martyn’s Law: standard tier consultation – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and will close on Monday 18 March.

The Government reaffirmed its commitment to introduce this legislation in the King’s Speech in November 2023.

However, the Home Office said that the Government was committed to a further public consultation, specifically on the Standard Tier. This is to ensure the public and those impacted by the proposals have the opportunity to offer in-depth views on the Standard Tier, prior to the legislation’s introduction to Parliament.

The proposals for requirements for premises in the Standard Tier have been revised to address feedback from the Home Affairs Select Committee and stakeholders, which primarily related to the need for requirements to be proportionate.

These include having procedural measures that could be expected to reduce, so far as reasonably practicable, the risk of physical harm to individuals at the premises in the event of an attack.

In contrast to the published draft Bill, there is no requirement to complete a specified form (the ‘Standard Terrorism Evaluation’) for Standard Tier premises or ensure that people working at the premises are given any specific training. However, as part of putting in place the procedural measures, workers will need to be sufficiently instructed or trained to carry them out effectively.