On 29 April 2021, the UK’s new Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act was granted Royal Assent.

In the last year, as the country’s collective consciousness has understandably been focused upon the Covid-19 pandemic, the officers and staff of Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) have quietly continued the 24/7 work of protecting the UK from another serious threat.
Whilst lockdowns, death tolls and vaccinations have somewhat dominated headlines, the UK has continued to face a terror threat that hasn’t dipped below SUBSTANTIAL during the last year, meaning an attack is likely.

David Townsend, Event Director of the Counter Terror Expo, gives his thoughts on the proposed Protect Duty legislation

The number of cyber-attacks on companies, governments and individuals has been consistently rising in recent years, with global ransomware attacks increasing significantly in 2020, up 485 per cent compared to 2019. Tackling cyber security and protecting key critical infrastructure is key to national security, and the quick pivot to remote working during the Covid pandemic has seen even the most prepared organisations face new security challenges, with cyber criminals quick to take advantage.

Concerns about extremism and radicalisation, and what can be done about them, are very much to the fore in policy circles at present. The government has recently re-started the Independent Review of Prevent (the UK’s counter-radicalisation policy), and work has also begun on an Independent review, led by Lord Walney, the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, into far-right and far-left extremism in the United Kingdom.

We have ‘terrorism on the brain’ and vested interests are using any excuse to label all acts of violence committed by any group as terrorist, writes Phil Gurski
Our continued difficulty in defining what terrorism is and what it is not is not helpful.

Public protection, the protection of all visiting or working in a public accessible location, whether a stadium, an arena, a place of worship or a shopping centre, to list just a few examples, has always been the number one priority of effective service providers.
The upcoming Protect Duty - Martyn’s Law - will move public protection from good practice to being legally binding. In future no employer or service provider has a choice. Protection and preparedness to deal with a terrorist attack will become a legal requirement.

Iain Moran explains for Counter Terror Business how the coronavirus pandemic has changed the future of the high street

As lockdown starts to ease, the government is keen to ensure the public is kept safe from terror attacks at entertainment events and venues. A consultation process is now underway which is designed to determine new anti-terrorism legislation. This comes in the wake of the horrific bombing at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in 2017.

In the past, relying on physical locks and security features was normal. There was no such thing as digital locking systems and CCTV was rather primitive. Today, things are completely different, and since the Covid-19 global pandemic there are now a whole new set of security needs due to the mass move to working from home.