Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. If we get the opportunity to discuss amendment No. 11, I shall give him my response. I am trying to make the important point, albeit laboriously, that the Government’s motivation is to ensure that this is not just about holding individuals to account. Individual criminal liability must rest on the individual conduct or omissions of that person. As the law stands, individuals can be convicted of gross negligence manslaughter, which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, if, by their own acts or omissions, they cause a person’s death. The new offence does not alter that. Individuals can also be convicted of a range of health and safety offences, which also carry the possibility of imprisonment for certain offences in very serious cases. We are interested in widening the range of offences under health and safety legislation for which imprisonment is available, and would offer our support to any hon. Member who was successful in the private Member’s ballot and wished to take that forward. The Department for Work and Pensions has declared its intention to support an opportunity to make section 37 amendments. I hope that the discussions that my hon. Friends the Members for Manchester, Central and for—