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Debate on bill on Friday, 13 June 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Keith Hill. The answering member was Andrew Selous.

Health and Safety (Offences) Bill

Health and Safety (Offences) Bill. Report stage. Amendments and new schedules debated and agreed to. Third reading debate. Agreed to on question and Bill passed.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
477 c576-629 
Session
2007-08
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Legislative stage
Third reading
Report stage
Procedure
New schedules
Private members' bills proceedings
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Keith Hill | 477 c576 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment No. 1, page 1, line 10, at end insert—
Andrew Dismore | 477 c580 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend provided some interesting statistics on fatalities for Northern Ireland, the re...
Show all contributions (116)
Keith Hill | 477 c579 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for hon. Members’ support for the group of amendments, which would extend the Bill to ...
Speaker | 477 c576 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment No. 2, clause 2, page 1, line 1...
Keith Hill | 477 c579-80 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention—I was about to deal with exactly that point in...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c579 (Link to this contribution) One of the reasons for the Bill is to try to maintain and improve that record. What discussions has ...
Keith Hill | 477 c580 (Link to this contribution) Again, I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention because it enables me to put on record ...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c580 (Link to this contribution) Earlier, my right hon. Friend mentioned accident statistics, which he aggregated between Northern Ir...
Keith Hill | 477 c580 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the sentiment that she expresses. My sense is that it is the wil...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c580 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that many silent partners support the Bill, including environmental ...
Keith Hill | 477 c580 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I do not. We know that, for 2005-06—the last year for which separate statistics are...
Keith Hill | 477 c583 (Link to this contribution) I am again grateful to my hon. Friend, who raises an extremely important point. My response is to sa...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c582 (Link to this contribution) The explanatory notes to my right hon. Friend’s Bill contain a helpful annexe, which sets out a comp...
Keith Hill | 477 c581-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, as he allows me to clarify an observation that I have made. I will ...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c581 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. He gave us the most up-to-date figures fo...
Keith Hill | 477 c581 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for your guidance and for the opportunity that you signal for a wider discussion, Mr. ...
Speaker | 477 c581 (Link to this contribution) Order. Perhaps the House might usefully have a little guidance. We have essentially two debates toda...
Dawn Butler | 477 c581 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend clarify whether, for example, breaches of fundamental requirements to cond...
Keith Hill | 477 c581 (Link to this contribution) I will, but then I want to make some progress before becoming available to take further intervention...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c607 (Link to this contribution) I warmly congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Keith Hill) on having achieved ...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c608-9 (Link to this contribution) I think that my hon. Friend is right in principle, but in practice I am not sure that it would make ...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c607 (Link to this contribution) I was interested to read that earlier in proceedings on the Bill some Members suggested that it woul...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c606 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. Does she agree that the introduction of a prison sentence w...
Dawn Butler | 477 c605-6 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. As my constituency is the most diverse in the UK, I th...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c606 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill is not about revenge or about getting back at employers, but...
Dawn Butler | 477 c606 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely; a prison sentence certainly focuses the mind. In 2005, Philip Hampton noted in his repor...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c605 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend rightly raises the issue of different languages. Does the House have a role in reachi...
Dawn Butler | 477 c605 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Keith Hill) on bringing this ver...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c604-5 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for your help and guidance. Once again, the Bill’s provisi...
Speaker | 477 c604 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady is beginning to generalise again. I urge her to remember that this is a Third R...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c604 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. A theme runs through this Third Reading debate that if...
Dawn Butler | 477 c604 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving away again; she has been very generous. The Bill deals with prosec...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c603-4 (Link to this contribution) Of course it is a sticky issue, but in my opinion it would not be sensible to exclude an employee fr...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c603 (Link to this contribution) I do think that my hon. Friend is putting the cart before the horse, and I hope, if I catch your eye...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c603 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point. The lives of most people working in the health and safety se...
Dawn Butler | 477 c603 (Link to this contribution) To help those small businesses especially, the Health and Safety Commission has local environmental ...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c602-3 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that guidance, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I was just trying to point out that it is impor...
Speaker | 477 c602 (Link to this contribution) Order. I hope that the hon. Lady is not going to tax her voice unduly by straying outside the terms ...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c616-8 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I would simply say that I understand now what my hon. Friend is talki...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c616 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend says that it can be different in common law. I am not entirely sure whether I underst...
Dennis Skinner | 477 c616 (Link to this contribution) It can be different in common law.
Andrew Dismore | 477 c616 (Link to this contribution) Well, I am not sure that it is that different. In a compensation claim, the chances of an employee b...
Speaker | 477 c616 (Link to this contribution) Order. I hope that the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore), who has great experience of these debat...
Dennis Skinner | 477 c616 (Link to this contribution) It is mainly, but not entirely, different because, for example, in the pits somebody might have not ...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c615-6 (Link to this contribution) I understand what my hon. Friend is saying, but I think that the idea is a little fanciful. I am not...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c615 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend not agree that if employees were exempted under the Bill, it might be likely tha...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c613-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an important point. There is no doubt that the nature of employment has change...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c611 (Link to this contribution) I note from Hansard that there has been some debate about the human rights aspects of imprisonment f...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c610-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. It relates to the duties under section 7 of the 1974 Ac...
Andrew Selous | 477 c609 (Link to this contribution) I agree that some directors and employers do need to be brought to book. I do not know about the hon...
Dennis Skinner | 477 c613 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend prompts me to refer to the fact that the work environment is changing dramatically. A...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c612-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes more than one point; he makes two points. The first is that it is especially tr...
Dennis Skinner | 477 c612 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for not being here earlier, but we on the Labour party’s national executive committee ha...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c611-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend asks an important question. If I put my Chairman’s hat on, I can say that article 5 o...
Keith Hill | 477 c586 (Link to this contribution) I am anxious to get on to describing the contents of the amendments in greater detail. If my hon. Fr...
Keith Hill | 477 c587 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend’s question involves speculating about the future. It is a matter for the courts, and ...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c587 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Keith Hill | 477 c587-8 (Link to this contribution) No, I want to make progress, if my hon. Friend will allow me. Amendment No. 1 amends the 1978 order...
Andrew Selous | 477 c588 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Member for Streatham (Keith Hill) for setting out so fully the basis...
Keith Hill | 477 c586 (Link to this contribution) Then I will make an exception.
Andrew Dismore | 477 c586 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend; he has been incredibly generous in giving way to me. My point...
Keith Hill | 477 c586-7 (Link to this contribution) I very much hope that the Bill will not, as my hon. Friend says, become an excuse for chickening out...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c587 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend explains very effectively why Great Britain provides for a sentence of 12 month...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c584 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful yet again for my right hon. Friend’s generosity in giving way. I am afraid I do not kn...
Keith Hill | 477 c585 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. I hesitate in my response for two reasons. Fi...
Anne McGuire | 477 c585-6 (Link to this contribution) My intervention is not about the number of prosecutions, although we may well be able to come on to ...
Keith Hill | 477 c586 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to my hon. Friend. The last people in the world I want to fall foul of are Scotti...
Keith Hill | 477 c585 (Link to this contribution) I rather suspect that my hon. Friend the Minister may have the answer, so I happily defer to her.
Andrew Dismore | 477 c585 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend. He tells us that the prosecution success rate in Norther...
Keith Hill | 477 c585 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful yet again to my hon. Friend, but on this occasion I have to throw myself on his mercy—...
Keith Hill | 477 c585 (Link to this contribution) I am about to come on to the detail of the amendments, but I shall give way to my hon. Friend just o...
Paul Rowen | 477 c599-600 (Link to this contribution) I also congratulate the right hon. Member for Streatham (Keith Hill) on the work that he has done on...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c600-1 (Link to this contribution) I cannot think of a better reason to be in the House on a Friday morning than to support this excell...
Simon Burns | 477 c601 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Lady confirm whether the Democratic Unionist party support the amendments?
Laura Moffatt | 477 c601 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that I will intrude on private grief, particularly this week. Perhaps the hon. Gentle...
Dawn Butler | 477 c601 (Link to this contribution) The Bill has three clauses and three schedules. I think that the most important is schedule 1, which...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c601 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention—
Laura Moffatt | 477 c601-2 (Link to this contribution) Yes, the hon. Lady is my friend. My hon. Friend rightly points out that aspects of the Bill are, fo...
Dawn Butler | 477 c602 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend, like me, will have received correspondence that shows that the trade ...
Laura Moffatt | 477 c602 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an important point. It all contributes to the atmosphere that the Bill is tryi...
Andrew Selous | 477 c588-9 (Link to this contribution) All Members of this House always have to account to their electorate for their presence in, or absen...
Paul Rowen | 477 c589 (Link to this contribution) I, too, thank the right hon. Member for Streatham (Keith Hill) for his clear exposition of these ame...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c588 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not share my surprise that on a matter of such importance for Northern Irela...
Anne McGuire | 477 c591 (Link to this contribution) We are in danger of encroaching on what is the legitimate responsibility of the Northern Ireland leg...
Anne McGuire | 477 c589-91 (Link to this contribution) I echo the thanks of my right hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Keith Hill) for the cross-party ...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c591 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend says that the objective is to secure the same availability of penalties in Northern I...
Andrew Selous | 477 c598-9 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure again to respond to the right hon. Member for Streatham (Keith Hill). I think that ...
Anne McGuire | 477 c592 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not want to go down the road of the courts system or the legal process in Northern Ireland....
Keith Hill | 477 c595-8 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. I do not wish to detain the House with a l...
Denis MacShane | 477 c620-1 (Link to this contribution) I shall leave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) our chance to make these point...
Speaker | 477 c621 (Link to this contribution) Order. The right hon. Gentleman is now straying somewhat from the Third Reading of the Bill, which e...
Denis MacShane | 477 c621-2 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that I am upsetting Opposition Front Benchers, who are getting excited about what is happ...
Anne McGuire | 477 c622-7 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to make what I hope will be a shortish contribution to the Third Reading debate. Once...
Denis MacShane | 477 c620 (Link to this contribution) I just praised the hon. Gentleman. If he reacts to praise in that manner, I fear that perhaps I am g...
Denis MacShane | 477 c620 (Link to this contribution) I would rather not get into that.
Andrew Selous | 477 c627 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady respond to the point about the time scale within which the Sentencing Guidelines ...
Andrew Selous | 477 c619-20 (Link to this contribution) I very much resent the tenor of the right hon. Gentleman’s remarks. If he had been here earlier, he ...
Keith Hill | 477 c584 (Link to this contribution) Just to complete that thought, I should add that under these amendments those offences could in futu...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c584 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to what my right hon. Friend said about acts and omissions by employees who should b...
Keith Hill | 477 c584 (Link to this contribution) I see that my hon. Friend wishes to respond on that point.
Keith Hill | 477 c583-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful once again to my hon. Friend for that intervention. He raises an important philosophic...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c583 (Link to this contribution) I have been looking at the explanatory notes. I assume from what my right hon. Friend said that they...
Keith Hill | 477 c629 (Link to this contribution) With the leave of the House, I shall forgo my opportunity to respond at length. My dear and hon. Fri...
Anne McGuire | 477 c627-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is impatient; I still have some bits and pieces to say. I will come to sentencing...
Dawn Butler | 477 c581 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Denis MacShane | 477 c618-9 (Link to this contribution) In the last weekend of Easter, there is always a very moving ceremony outside the Minster in Rotherh...
Keith Hill | 477 c584 (Link to this contribution) I make two points in response to my hon. Friend. The first, which I want to develop at greater lengt...
Dawn Butler | 477 c606-7 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely; it is important for the House to send a clear message about what is expected of employer...
Andrew Dismore | 477 c616 (Link to this contribution) As my right hon. Friend says, the present position is that they face a £20,000 fine. His Bill provid...
Subjects
Disclosure of information Compensation Devolved matters Crime Death Custodial treatment Asbestos Corporate manslaughter Liability Health and safety Health and Safety Executive Fines Industrial accidents Industrial injuries Northern Ireland Prosecutions Publicity Parliament Statistics Sentencing Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland
Legislation
Health and Safety (Offences) Bill 2007-08
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk