What is the background to the Bill?

The Bill is referred to as Martyn’s Law, in honour of Martyn Hett who tragically lost his life in the Manchester Arena attack in 2017.  Martyn’s mother, Figen Murray, has consistently campaigned for legislation to be passed to address the risk of a terrorist attack at public venues and events.  The Manchester Arena Inquiry and London Bridge Inquest each called for legislation to be introduced to protect the public, so this Bill has been hotly anticipated.

What does the Bill seek to do?

The Bill seeks to improve the country’s preparedness for terrorist acts.  Those who are responsible for certain premises or events must implement reasonably practicable public protection measures, the scale of which will vary depending on the capacity of the premises in question. 

Premises can fall within the scope of the Bill if they consist of a building (including part of a building, or group of buildings), or a building and other land.  This means, for example, that a hotel with outside entertaining space would fall within the scope of the Bill. 

The premises must also be wholly or mainly used for one or more qualifying activity.  These are listed in Schedule 1 of the Bill and are wide-ranging.  They include retail, the sale of food or drink, nightclub and entertainment venues, hotels, healthcare and education.  

If the premises are reasonably expected to have 200 – 799 individuals on site at any one time, they fall within the ‘standard tier’.  ‘Enhanced tier’ measures apply to venues with an anticipated capacity of over 800.

Events will fall within the scope of the Bill if the event:

1. takes place on open land such as a park, or land occupied with a building, or within a building not already captured by the Bill such as one in which occasional events are held;

2. hosts at least 800 members of the public at the same time;

3. requires attendees to satisfy a condition of entry, such as holding a ticket or access pass; and

4. is accessible to members of the public.

The Bill will establish a regulator to oversee compliance, through a new function of the Security Industry Authority (SIA).  Events and premises falling within the ‘enhanced tier’ require more stringent measures to be implemented, such as notification to the new SIA, and appointing a designated senior individual who oversees compliance with the legislation.

What happens next?

Robert Gardener, Hogan Lovells’ Director of Government Affairs and co-lead of the firm’s global Geopolitical Risk and National Security programme notes: “From a policy perspective, there is broad agreement for legislation in this area. Victims’ groups have been campaigning for this for years now, and there is little doubt that improved measures will help to keep the public safe. But there is also a strong political driver behind this move. Security experts have warned about the ‘siege mentality’ of responding to the threat of terrorism; the denying of liberty and the spreading of fear is actually doing the job of the terrorists for them. The government is alive to this, and is keen to embed preventative measures in much more of a steady and unnoticeable way: protection without detection. That is why venues need to be part of the approach, and that is why parliament is unlikely to resist the draft legislation.”

The second reading of the Bill is already in progress and we will monitor the passage of this high profile Bill through Parliament. 

Authored by Stella Bliss and Ingrid Stables.