Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

moved Amendment No. 50: 50: Clause 5 , page 4, line 38, leave out paragraph (c) The noble Lord said: Amendment No. 50 stands in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Hunt. It would remove paragraph (c) of Clause 5(1), which exempts training of a hazardous nature from any duty of care owed by a public authority. Here we come very much to a repeat of what was discussed earlier. This subsection of Clause 5 buffers the existing protection afforded to policing and law enforcement by providing further immunity than that supplied by Clauses 2 and 3. Earlier we debated the important issue of custody. That is a debate to which we shall certainly return, and one in which there is considerable unanimity in the Committee other than on the government Front Bench. No doubt the noble and learned Lord will remember that debate and looks forward to returning to it at a later stage. There is already strong protection for the police service under Clauses 2 and 3, where the Prison Service is also protected from any possible liability for deaths caused during hazardous training. Given that the Government added the extra clauses on specific public functions during the debate in another place, noble Lords on these Benches are pleased to have the opportunity to ensure that the new clauses establish an appropriate level of accountability within public authorities. It goes without saying that the police face incredibly difficult challenges and that to face them properly, there must be the appropriate training. Our amendment would not impede that training. Where an individual died in training of a hazardous nature, the police force would be liable for conviction of corporate manslaughter only had the standard of safety offered fallen far below—it is worth emphasising the words ““far below””, as we discussed it earlier on an amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn—what can reasonably be expected in the circumstances, so the standard of safety provision has been negligible. I understand that the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Health and Safety Executive and the Home Office all signed an agreement in 2000 which was to establish a mutual understanding of the objectives of the HSE and the police service in relation to the inspection and enforcement of health and safety legislation. All parties agreed that the HSE should inspect training areas where hazardous training is being undertaken. The HSE makes it very clear in its operational circular that its inspectors’ primary concerns are in, "““the organisation, arrangements and written procedures for controlling and managing these activities””." That is central to the point that we are making today. The HSE recognises that hazardous training is necessary, and we agree with that. Police officers must be trained to deal with all kinds of unpredictable and extremely dangerous situations. We do not dispute that, but where the organisation of those operations is deficient and a death arises as a result of that deficiency that is entirely avoidable, I see no reason why the authority responsible should not take responsibility. Negligible organisation before an event that results in death at that event cannot be excused merely because the activity is hazardous. We are very reluctant to give the police protection for what would amount to gross incompetence in their training. Our amendment would address that. I beg to move.