Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

I support Amendments Nos. 34 and 35, which are in the names of my noble friends Lady Turner of Camden and Lord Hoyle. I declare an interest in that I was for six years a commissioner on the Health and Safety Commission until I entered this House in 2000. During those years and since, very few cases have been taken against individuals who have had responsibility in organisations that breached laws and caused deaths. I believe firmly, as do my noble friends who tabled the amendments, that with individual senior management comes individual responsibility. Before the Minister tells me so, I know that the Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive do not agree with the amendments but, in this instance, they are wrong. If the amendments were included, overall that would strengthen health and safety legislation in this country.