Martyn's Law takes a step forward
It may have taken far too long but people power rightly seems to have finally paid off following the King’s Speech on the 17th July 2024.
Martyn’s Law has been named as one of 40 legislative priorities for the new government, following the Manchester bombing in 2017 which killed 22 people.
Since then, there have been more than a dozen other terrorist attacks.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises Bill) - also known asMartyn’s Law - is designed to introduce security requirements for public venues and locations to protect the public from terrorist attacks at live events.
The campaign for this proposed legislation has been championed by Figen Murray OBE who lost her son Martyn Hett during the attack at Manchester Arena.
Put simply, there will be two tiers to the legislation.
Premises with a maximum capacity of 100 or more people will be ‘standard’ – this will mean the venue will have to carry out various low-cost procedures such as protection against terrorism training.
The ‘enhanced’ tier will see premises with more than an 800-person capacity have to invest in more substantial security such as a whole review of venue security, as well as recruiting a designated senior officer.
Coming with the Bill is its own regulator which will enforce the new legislation.
Failure to abide by the rules could see a fine of up to£10,000 for those in the first tier with an £18m ceiling (or 5% of the venue’s revenue) for those in the enhanced, second tier.
Sharon Bannister, Brighter’s Head of Sales and Account Management, Meetings and Events has been a member of mia’s (Meetings IndustryAssociation’s) Event Task Force since March 2022.
And mia has long since campaigned for the implementation of the legislation, welcoming Figen as keynote speaker to its Connect Day last December.
The session, moderated by Sharon, saw Figen call upon the meetings and events sector to “act now”.
The industry backed her by throwing its weight behind the campaign - thankfully it looks like some progress could now be made.
Following the King’s Speech, Sharon said:
“As a proud member of the Meetings Industry Association, we have been monitoring the progress of Martyn’s Law closely.
“I had the honour of moderating a panel session at a miaConnect event last year with the driving force behind it, Figen Murray.
“As a mother of two teenage boys that enjoy attending large sporting and music events, I am in awe of the courage that Figen has shown and her determination to ensure legislation is brought in to make attending events safer for everyone.
“As the terrorism threat level continues to evolve and remain significant, across the sector, we welcome the Government’s commitment to bringing in Martyn’s Law to strengthen the security of public events and venues.”