Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

Amendment No. 25 goes to an important aspect of the Bill that we considered in some detail in our debates in this House—the question of what sanctions should apply to an organisation convicted of corporate manslaughter. As an offence is committed by the organisation itself, and not an individual, the principal response to date has been a fine and that is the only sanction available for companies convicted of manslaughter under the current law. The Bill goes one step further by introducing the possibility of remedial orders, currently only available under health and safety law. Hon. Members urged the Government to think more imaginatively and I pay particular tribute to the efforts of my hon. Friends the Members for Eccles (Ian Stewart) and for Manchester, Central (Tony Lloyd) in this respect. The Government reflected on those arguments and were persuaded to bring forward amendments in the other place to provide for the innovative sanction of publicity orders in the Bill. The publicity orders received the backing of Professor McRory’s review of regulatory penalties, which found that organisations were likely to take them very seriously. Lords amendment No. 25 therefore gives the court the power to order an organisation to publicise the fact of its conviction and to specify particulars of the offence, the amount of any fine imposed and the terms of any remedial order that has been made. Prior to setting an order, and depending on the circumstances of the case, the judge will be required to ascertain the views of the appropriate regulatory authority—such as the Health and Safety Executive—and of the prosecution. That will ensure that the judge receives practical assistance in setting the order, and provide an opportunity to establish the views of the victim’s family. As with other penalties, the defence will also be able to make representations to the judge before the order is made. In setting an order, the judge will be able to require the organisation to supply evidence that it has complied with the order to the appropriate regulator, if that regulator has been consulted. That provides a means of ascertaining that the order has been implemented. Similarly, Lords amendment No. 22 improves the monitoring of remedial orders by giving courts the power to order an organisation to provide evidence of compliance to the regulator consulted when the order was drawn up. While we expect that the health and safety regulators will monitor closely the safety regime in any organisation convicted of corporate manslaughter or corporate homicide, Lords amendment No. 22 builds in an extra safeguard to provide that the organisation takes positive action to demonstrate its compliance if the court considers that appropriate. The amendment is important, and I commend it to the House.