Snapshot Webinar 05: Martyn's Law

The government has announced plans for a consultation on a new Protect Duty for the operators of publicly accessible venues which will be based on Martyn's Law. 

We are delighted to announce that the authors of Martyn's Law will join us for a Snapshot Webinar: 

• Figen Murray is the mother of Martyn Hett, one of the 22 people who died in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. Since then, she has campaigned to ensure that publicly accessible areas take steps to prevent, mitigate and respond to terror attacks. 
• Nick Aldworth was a chief superintendent and counter-terror national coordinator for the 'protect' and 'prepare' strands of the government's CONTEST counter-terror strategy. After meeting Figen, he agreed to work with her to draft Martyn's Law.

The government announced its backing for Martyn's Law in January 2020 but progress was delayed due to Covid-19. Now, the security minister has announced plans for a consultation on a 'Protect Duty' which would require operators of publicly accessible venues to plan for terrorist attacks. The consultation is expected to start before the end of February.

Martyn's Law, which may form the model for the Protect Duty, is comprised of five parts: 

1. A requirement that certain sections of the community, spaces, and places engage with freely available counterterrorism advice and training
2. A requirement for those places to conduct vulnerability assessments of their operating places and spaces
3. A requirement for those places to have a mitigation plan for the risks created by the vulnerabilities
4. A requirement for those places to have a counterterrorism plan based on Guide, Shelter, Communicate
5. A requirement for local authorities to plan for the threat of terrorism

We look forward to talking to Figen and Nick about the need for a Protect Duty and how this might be implemented by venue operators and local authorities. We hope you can join us.