‘Martyn’s Law’ to obtain Royal Assent

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, otherwise referred to as Maryn’s Law in tribute of Martyn Hett who was killed alongside 21 other people in the Manchester Arena attack of 2017, has been introduced in Parliament to better protect the public from terrorism.

The new legislation means venues across the UK must consider the security of and take steps to protect the public from harm.

Under the changes, those responsible for premises and public events will be required to take appropriate action to strengthen public safety, with requirements that reflect the size of the venue and the activity taking place.

This includes a tiered approach linked to the size of the venue, how many people will be there and the activity taking place:

Standard tier: Applies to locations with a capacity between 200 and 800 people.  These businesses will be asked to undertake simple activities to put in place procedures to reduce harm to the public in the event of an attack.

Enhanced tier: Applies to locations with a capacity of over 800 people. These businesses will need to put measures in place like CCTV and hiring security staff.

The legislation wording previously based the tiering on square footage of a premises as used when considering fire capacity, which could have included thousands of retail premises where capacity could physically be possible but where realistically such capacity would rarely be reached, if at all.

As stated in the government factsheet, “For premises to be in scope, it must be reasonable to expect that from time to time there may be 200 or more individuals present on the premises at the same time."

We expect most indie shops will fall outside of scope altogether, but larger stores (furniture shops, department stores, etc) could still be in scope.

Following Royal Assent, businesses will be given sufficient time and support to understand and implement the new obligations and allow for a new regulator to be established.