Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

I shall not deal generally with the focus in the Bill on corporate liability which we shall come to in other amendments. I shall confine myself to the narrower points raised by the noble Lord, which I fully concede are very important in the terms of the Bill. It is evident from what has been said by noble Lords that there is some uncertainty about whether a successful prosecution of a company for the new offence would preclude the court convicting the company on related health and safety charges. That has particular significance for individuals, because if it is proved that a company’s offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 was committed with the consent or connivance of a director or manager of the company, or was attributable to neglect on his part, that person would also be guilty of the health and safety offence and be liable to be punished accordingly. We are currently considering whether there is an obstacle that needs to be addressed. There is some question over whether there is a bar here, either to convicting the organisation for a health and safety offence on the same indictment or, in any event, to considering secondary liability. The latter might still be possible even if the company itself is not convicted because Section 37 does not, in terms, appear to require a company to be convicted; rather the commission of an offence under the 1974 Act needs to be proved. We are prepared to consider this swiftly and positively and to bring forward an amendment if one is needed—the noble and learned Lord, Lord Boyd, hinted that it might not be necessary—either to address the substantive point of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, or to clarify the position in the Bill if that would be beneficial. If there is a problem, we want to deal with that quickly, if required. If it is not required, we will not bring forward anything. We are grateful to the noble Lord for highlighting the issue. I undertake that we shall give the point further consideration. We do not want that obstacle there.