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Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to both my noble friend and the noble Lord. Having spoken to the amendment already, I want to make a couple of points. I have noted that my noble friend Lady Turner has indicated that she is not going to move her amendments. Notwithstanding that indication, she is still entitled to some explanation from me of why the Government are not persuaded by her arguments. That is only right. First, the noble Baroness advanced, with diligence and clarity, the desirability of naming an individualto be responsible in effect for enforcement. While listening carefully to that argument, the Government have two problems with it. One of them is that which the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, has identified: this is a corporate offence, and imposing the responsibility for compliance on an individual may rather confuse that issue. The second problem is a practical concern. Given that it is a corporate responsibility, one would not want others in the corporation’s management to feel that it is nothing to do with them. There is something of a risk that if you identify a single individual, others may not feel that it is their responsibility. The Government take a different view on that from my noble friend. The second point is my noble friend’s proposal that the courts should be able to require a convicted organisation to report back to them with details of the remedial steps taken. I can see why my noble friend advocates that, and I can see certain attractions in following that course, but it is not the way that our courts operate. They do not monitor compliance with sentences; whether they ought to in other areas is an interesting question. The closest we come to it is in relation to the very different area of drug testing orders, where there is some compliance by the courts. I had better not go too far down that particular road, save to say that it would be quite a departure for our courts to take on the responsibility of enforcing this sort of order. However, we anticipate that regulators, particularly those who have been involved in the prosecution and consulted on the sanctions to be imposed, as we discussed in a previous amendment, are likely to look closely at whether the remedial order is carried out. That is a pretty strong safeguard. I am not without sympathy for my noble friend’s point and the reasons behind it. I am grateful to her for indicating that she will not press her amendments, and hope that I have explained the position.