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Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

My Lords, I have tabled Amendments Nos. 31 and 36 and I assume that in a sense the government amendment suggesting a remedial order is one way of responding to some of the comments made in Grand Committee. I moved then an amendment similar to this one, and I got the impression, from, I think, my noble friend Lord Bassam, that the comments I had made would receive attention. Indeed, they seemed to be sympathetically received. I was pleased to see this set of amendments, but there are certain differences. In my amendment I wanted to identify a person or persons within the organisation who would have the responsibility for seeing that the steps that had to be taken were actually taken, and to ensure that that person should have the responsibility to report back to the court. If he did not take the necessary steps or report to the court, there would be possibilities of action for contempt. It seemed to me at the time that those were sensible steps that could be taken after a very serious incident to ensure that there would be monitoring of the situation by the court so that the incident was not likely to recur, and that there would be plenty of opportunity for the court to ensure that the proper steps had been taken. Those are the reasons for my two amendments, but I accept that the propositions advanced by the Government answer to some extent the problems we raised in Grand Committee. I do not intend to press our Amendments Nos. 31 and 36 this evening, although I still believe that identifying someone with responsibility and ensuring that it is followed up is one of the best methods. On the other hand, I know that the Government have taken a different view as far as personal liability is concerned, and this stems from that attitude throughout the Bill. I will not therefore be pressing my amendments today.