UK Parliament / Open data

Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

I hope so. Perhaps I may explain this to the noble Baroness. I seek to keep all the existing legislation alive and clearly in the forefront of the levers available to the prosecuting authorities. The noble Baroness has raised an important point. There are worries about the construction industry and the many deaths that today occur on construction sites. I am involved with a number of health and safety organisations, as is the noble Baroness, and there are serious concerns about the way in which construction sites still carry such a huge number of serious injuries and fatalities. Some way must be found for putting health and safety further up the agenda of the companies operating in that arena. That is another reason why we must include unincorporated associations. Some of these smaller companies are difficult to pin down, as they are normally unincorporated associations. There is the matter raised by my noble friend Lord James about accidents that happen on construction sites abroad. We shall come to that when we deal with jurisdiction. If there is a prosecution under the old health and safety legislation in respect of the same incident, can there still be a prosecution for corporate manslaughter against the company? Does the one knock out the other? My amendment ensures that that prosecution of the company is still available as well as the prosecution of the individual. It would be wrong for one legal process to pre-empt another. I hope I carry the Committee with me in asking these questions. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response. I beg to move.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

688 c157GC 

Session

2006-07

Chamber / Committee

House of Lords Grand Committee
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