Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

My Lords, I thank the Leader of the House for her kind remarks and for the gravity with which she has summed up not only this debate, but the many others that we have had, as the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, said. An enormous amount of humanity and good sense has come out of these debates. When the matter was in the other place, I was heartened by a remark made by the Secretary of State. He said: "““I am happy to provide regular reports … at least once a year and, if there is a demand for it, more often than that””.—[Official Report, Commons, 18/7/07; col. 335.]" I can assure him that there will be a demand. Now that we have, as the noble Baroness said, launched the initiative, there are those who will want to make certain that the momentum is maintained, which is a good military principle. I take the opportunity of thanking all noble Lords who have taken part in the various debates on these amendments and who have voted. In particular, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Hunt of Wirral and Lord Dholakia, not only for their kind and generous remarks but also for their tremendous support. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Lea of Crondall, who is not in his place. It has been a fascinating experience to discuss all the nuances of the Bill as we have proceeded through the various stages. This morning I was in Wormwood Scrubs and was reminded of one complexity that may need to be ironed out. The complaint is that prisoners arrive so late that it is often difficult to sort out who should go into which cell. They arrive late because the drivers of the vans are also court officials. They cannot start driving until the court has closed, which means that prisoners are delivered too late. That is because resources do now allow for two separate people to do two separate jobs. If that sort of complexity is going to be ironed out to make a better Prison Service and a better prison system, the stimulus of the Bill will have had another valuable purpose. But, in the spirit of all that has been said and, as I say, thanking all those who have taken part, in particular the Minister, I beg leave to withdraw the Motion. Motion A1, by leave, withdrawn. On Question, Motion A agreed to.