Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

It does make sense, and the hon. Gentleman makes the case for me when he talks about the environment in which the Prison Service operates. He is entitled to a point of view opposed to mine, as are all Members—[Interruption.] We must agree to disagree. It is no good the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey) putting his head in his hands, although as he is a Liberal Democrat I can understand why he might want to. There is a difference between us. As I said at the outset, we are trying to make sure that the Bill meets the requirements that we are all trying to achieve. Deaths in custody are unique and difficult, because of the environment, for the reasons I outlined, but there is scope in the legislation, if the Prison Service operates within the three parameters that I described. I am happy with our position. The instruments available—public inquiries and public scrutiny of the Prison Service through independent inspectorates and by recourse to the House through questions—mean that we can, and do, respond when there are problems. It is wrong to take the focus that Opposition Members and my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon have taken, because we are the first Government to look at removing Crown immunity in those areas. That is a significant step forward and I hope that the House will support it. The subject obviously creates a great deal of emotion and I am sure that we shall return to it in future.