SUNDAY saw us pass the ignominious milestone of 1,000 days without a sitting assembly in Stormont. In that time movement on legislation to make the north a more competitive place to do business has not just been glacial, it has ground to a halt.
The lack of government at Stormont has meant that we are falling further and further behind our neighbours in GB and Ireland on a range of issues including reform of business rates and the apprenticeship levy, as well as industrial strategies.
But this is about our people too. Last week MSP Daniel Johnson formally lodged a Private Member's Bill in the Scottish Parliament. It would create a separate offence and a statutory aggravation for the assault and impediment of a retail worker carrying out age-restricted sales and would also extend to non-retail staff such as delivery drivers and those working in hotels.
Currently in the UK, workers dealing with age-restricted sales are personally liable for upholding the law, but do not receive the same level of protection as other professions, such as police officers, border staff and tax collectors.
The recent British Retail Consortium (BRC) crime survey has shown that there has been a 58 per cent rise in abuse and attacks against shop workers, with on average 115 attacks on our front line colleagues every single day of the week. This can’t continue.
Violent or abusive behaviour towards shop staff is wholly and utterly unacceptable. Retail workers should be able to work free from fear of violence, intimidation or abuse. In short it shouldn’t be part of the job and we need to make that clear.
These incidents continue to grow despite retailers investing considerable time and resources in protecting and training colleagues. Many of these crimes are thought to be linked to purchases of government-licensed and age-restricted products.
And that’s why we are calling for a similar law to that in Scotland for Northern Ireland. We need a law that is fit for purpose and that the sentences available to the courts are stiff enough and offer a sufficient deterrent.
With similar legislation being proposed in Westminster, we now face the situation where our shop workers will have less protection than those in Great Britain because we have no Assembly or Executive to bring in the legislation that will pass in Holyrood and Westminster, and that is simply intolerable.
We can’t just sit and wait for Stormont to return to make progress on this issue. We need to have made our voices heard so that when the Assembly does return we can present evidence that this matters to our industry and our communities.
The Business Crime Partnership has launched the first ever Northern Ireland business crime survey to seek the views of businesses and industries across this region to make us a safer and more competitive place to do business.
We are encouraging our members and retailers across the north to take part in this survey so that the justice community understand how important this is to us. Please think about filling in the survey and supporting us. Doing nothing on this issue is simply not an option.
You can find out more about NIRC at www.brc.org.uk/NIRC and the consultation on business crime can be found at www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/business-crime.
:: Aodhán Connolly is director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium and a board member of the Northern Ireland Business Crime Partnership.
