About the Bill
A Bill for an Act of the Scottish Parliament to create an offence of assaulting, threatening, abusing, obstructing or hindering retail workers; and to provide for a statutory aggravation of that offence where the retail worker is enforcing a statutory age restriction.
Current Status of the Bill
This Member's Bill was introduced by Daniel Johnson MSP on 10 October 2019.
SPICe Briefings
SPICe has produced a briefing on the Bill.
Stage 1
The Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee is considering
the Protection of Workers (Retail
and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Bill. The deadline for
submitting written views was 31 January and we held 3 oral evidence sessions on
3 March. We would like to thank everyone who has been in touch to tell us what
they think about the Bill and has contributed to this work so far. We
acknowledge that this is a challenging time for the sector and the Committee
values the work being done by retail workers during this difficult time. Due to
the current COVID-19 restrictions, we have decided to postpone our remaining
evidence sessions on the Bill. However, the Committee hopes to complete
its Stage 1 consideration of the bill once the current COVID-19 crisis abates.
Timetable
The Committee took evidence on the Bill from 3 panel of witnesses on 3 March. You can read the transcript of what was said during the meeting in the Official Report.
Official Report 3 March
Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, we
have decided to postpone our remaining evidence sessions on the Bill.
However, the Committee hopes to complete its Stage 1 consideration of the bill
once the current COVID-19 crisis abates.
Evidence
On the 27th to the 29th of February, the Scottish Parliament's Engagement and Outreach teams set-up a "pop-up Parliament" stand in the Piazza Shopping Centre in Paisley. They asked retail workers and shoppers what they thought about the Bill. A note summarising the points raised will be considered as evidence contributing to the Committee's work.
Correspondence
The Non-Government Bills Unit wrote to the Committee with the Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) for the Member's Bill.
The Scottish Government provided a memorandum to assist consideration of the Bill.