FREEDOM FROM FEAR CAMPAIGN

Early day motion 2041, tabled 14 October 2009 by Brian Jenkins (Labour). Signed by 93 members.

That this House congratulates the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) on its groundbreaking Freedom from Fear campaign, which seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against shopworkers; welcomes the Government's continued investment in policing and community safety, which has led to a 35 per cent. decrease in crime; further welcomes the Government's commitment to using a range of measures to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, such as anti-social behaviour orders, acceptable behaviour contracts, closed circuit television and neighbourhood policing; is concerned that there is too much onus on the individual shopworker to police the sale of age-restricted goods; is further concerned that some of the prosecuting authorities do not understand the difficult job shopworkers have policing age-related sales; notes that age-related sales are a major cause of incidents of violence, threats and abuse against shopworkers; calls on the Government to redress the balance by working with retailers to run a high profile campaign, ensuring that young people know that it is an offence to attempt to buy alcohol under-age; further calls on the Government to review the law and extend the attempting to buy offence to all age-restricted products; and further calls on hon. Members to support USDAW's Respect for Shopworkers Week, 2 to 6 November 2009, which asks customers to `keep your cool at Christmas'.

Signatures by party: Labour 79, Liberal Democrat 9, Social Democratic and Labour Party 2, Conservative 1, DUP 1, Plaid Cymru 1.