Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

I want to add a brief word in support of my noble friend Lord Hunt of Wirral. The key point in this group of amendments is whether public authorities—indeed, whether anyone in this country—should be above the law. We are talking not just about ordinary negligence but about very serious or gross negligence. I see that Dicey is quoted by Liberty, to which, like my noble friend, I am very grateful. Dicey points out: "““With us, every official, from the Prime Minister down to a constable or a collector of taxes, is under the same responsibility for every act done without legal justification as any other citizen””." While there may be a practical or technical reason why active service in the Armed Forces may require an exemption—although I am not certain that it does—the circumstances are so utterly different that the question of manslaughter hardly seems appropriate. However, we can look at that if necessary. Apart from very rare exceptions, I cannot think of any reason why the law of manslaughter should not apply to every public authority. Just a few weeks ago, we made imprisonable the causing of death by careless driving—something that I strongly resisted as being wrong in principle. But we are not talking about ordinary or mere negligence; we are talking about gross negligence—a falling far below the standards that are to be expected of a reasonably careful citizen. If the police force, the Prison Service, some public body laying on a school trip or making a provision for young people, or any public authority quite rightly providing enormously beneficial services or undertaking difficult tasks, such as keeping dangerous criminals in prison, falls so below the expected standard that its gross negligence causes death, I cannot, at the moment, see any reason in principle why it should be exempt or why it should have anything particular to fear. I should have declared my interest as a practising member of the Bar, in a small way, and as chairman of Stowe School. If one is chairman of a large school, one has a considerable responsibility. All sorts of dangers can arise on school trips—lumps of masonry can fall off an historic monument—and they require a considerable degree of care. But why should that be different for a public authority? I do not think that public authorities will find this unduly onerous. In fact, it may give them a sensible weapon—if that is the right word—against their paymasters, who should provide proper funding for what they can reasonably be expected to do. The highest levels of government ought to have that in mind. I shall listen with great care, and I am sure that the Minister and the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland—I, too, send her warm wishes for a quick recovery—will be thinking enormously carefully about this. I do not think that this is a party-political issue; Governments at all times have been a little reluctant. When we were in government, we quite rightly cut back very heavily on Crown immunity, and we were quite rightly urged to do so by the Opposition of the day. One of the duties of Parliament is to hold the Government to account on these important issues. I strongly urge a complete change of heart on this aspect. I shall listen carefully to closely reasoned argument for individual and narrow exceptions, if they can be justified, but, in principle, the law should apply to everybody equally.