The government is planning to introduce legislation to make it a legal duty for venues to have security measures in place to protect the public from terror attacts.
The so-called Protect Duty comes in the wake of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. Twenty-two people were killed following the Ariana Grande concert
Home Secretary Priti Patel is to set out the proposals following an 18-week consultation.
The Night Time Industries Association has been involved in meetings with the Home Office on the Protect Duty implementation. The organisation has submitted representation on behalf of our members and the wider industry as part of the consultation process.
The NTIA today reiterated concerns around support required for smaller independent businesses in evaluating and implementing this duty, as well as the current state of the private security sector and the limitation on licensed resources currently in the marketplace.
Michael Kill, CEO NTIA, said: “Our industry takes its role in protecting our staff and customers extremely seriously, and have proactively engaged with government departments throughout the Protect Duty consultation. It’s been a challenging year for the sector, with the implementation of changing public health mitigations, and now under new regulations presented by the Home Secretary, the industry will be asked to implement contingency planning for potential terror threats within venues and events.
“Larger clubs, events and festivals, that work with large crowds within the public domain, address the challenges as part of their planning process, working closely with police and local authorities on counter-terror measures, which will compliment much of the proposed regulations. But there will be challenges for smaller businesses, which will need a considerable level of support from government and local authorities as they assess the risk and action plan accordingly.”
He added: “While we focus on public safety there are some concerns from the sector, particularly smaller independent businesses, on the cost of implementing measures, proportionality against risk, but also wider industry concerns in particular the lack of licensed security personnel, which will be a fundamental requirement as we move into the busier periods of 2022.
“It is vitally important that the government, police and local authorities work closely with businesses through this process, but also consider some of the inherent challenges from the pandemic.”
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