"Protect" ' A New Legislative Duty On Businesses To Take Steps To Mitigate Terrorism Risks

• Published date: 11 January 2022
• Subject Matter: Government, Public Sector, Terrorism, Homeland Security & Defence
• Law Firm: BLM
• Author: Mr Alistair Kinley and Paul Tarne

This morning, the Home Office published its analysis of the responses to last year's consultation about the introduction of a new legislative duty - the Protect duty - to assess and take steps to mitigate the risk of terrorist attacks. The duty would apply to organisations of a certain size and to operators of venue/places to which the public has access. The duty will apply to the private and public sector alike and relevant legislation should be expected in a matter of months.

Much of the impetus behind the proposed duty is the sustained campaigning by those who lost family members in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. That is reflected in the commitment in the Conservative's 2019 manifesto to Introduce this new duty:

We will keep our country safe from terrorism. We will invest in the police and security services and give them the powers they need to combat new threats. In the wake of the terrible events in Manchester in 2017, we will improve the safety and security of public venues.

The Home Office-led consultation in 2021 was very much about the broad themes of the duty, such as: the type and size of those organisations and places that would be subject to it, the need for an inspection and enforcement regime, ensuring that the complying with the duty is not operationally disproportionate or excessively costly, and the legal nature of...