Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

The Chairman is probably quite used to being challenged over how amendments are selected, but I want to record my congratulations on how these new clauses and amendments were selected. There are technical arguments to be had over whether they conform with the Bill’s long title, but I am delighted that it was decided that they do, because I believe it is in the interests of parliamentary democracy and of the public for us to debate one of the most fundamental principles involved in the concept of corporate manslaughter and its operation. Mention has been made of a number of the major tragedies of the 1980s. One of the most formative of those disasters for me was the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise, partly because, as an Opposition Front Bencher, I had some responsibility for merchant shipping at the time. It was an outrage that that vessel was allowed to sink. Most of us here have probably been on ferries. Perhaps we have taken our children on holiday on them, and, as we know, the excitement of young kids going off on the ferry is part of the holiday package. For a ferry to go down in that way, with such an enormous loss of life, was not simply a casual mistake; it struck at the very heart of the question whether—not just in the context of merchant shipping, but in our industries and services generally—we operate a health and safety regime that guarantees that health and safety is at the centre of all that we do. As my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Doran) said, the Bill’s main objective is not to bring people before the courts and ensure that more directors go to prison, although I would not be unhappy if individuals were brought before the courts. My hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North (Jim Sheridan) made a similar point when he said that imposing a regime of financial prudence on directors does not necessarily mean that we want financial directors to appear in court. What we are saying, in the context of company fines and especially—in the case of those of us with a background in the subject—in the context of health and safety, is that we want to create a culture in Britain and British companies in which health and safety is automatic and central to all that is done by every member of an organisation, including directors.