The
Committees' inquiry
1. The Government published its draft Corporate Manslaughter
Bill on 23 March 2005.[1]
Its consultation on the draft Bill ended on 17 June. The Home
Affairs and Work and Pensions Committees had expressed an interest
in this matter in the last Parliament and, on reappointment after
the 2005 election, decided to examine the Government's proposals.
In July 2005 we appointed draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill Sub-committees
to meet concurrently "to consider and report on the Government's
draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill".
2. On 20 July, the Sub-committees invited interested
parties to submit written memoranda. We asked those who had already
responded to the Home Office consultation for permission to use
these responses as evidence, but also welcomed additional or updated
memoranda from these respondents and others. We received over
150 submissions from a wide range of interested organisations
and individuals.
3. The Government had expressed the hope that we
would report to the House before Christmas and this timeframe
restricted the amount of oral evidence we were able to take. We
held six evidence sessions starting on 24 October 2005 and sought
to hear from witnesses who represented a range of views articulated
in written evidence. We made a particular effort to include individuals
who had been bereaved by public disasters or deaths in the workplace,
or organisations representing them. We regret that we were unable
to hear from all of the organisations who contacted us during
the course of the inquiry, requesting to be heard. However, we
assure them and all those who submitted written evidence to our
inquiry that we have fully taken into account all views expressed
in written, as well as oral, evidence.
4. We took oral evidence from 29 organisations and
individuals. They were: Disaster Action; the Simon Jones Memorial
Campaign; Amicus; the Trades Union Congress; the Transport and
General Workers' Union; the Centre for Corporate Accountability;
the Law Reform Committee of the General Council of the Bar; the
London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association; Thompsons Solicitors;
Professor Frank Wright; the Institution of Occupational Safety
and Health; the Railway Forum; the Rail Safety and Standards Board;
the Construction Confederation; the Royal Academy of Engineering;
the Institute of Directors; EEF, the manufacturers' organisation;
the Marchioness Contact Group; the Union of Construction Allied
Trades and Technicians; the Confederation of British Industry;
the Association of Principal Fire Officers; the Association of
Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland;
the Police Federation of England and Wales; the Prison Reform
Trust; JUSTICE; Lord Justice Judge; the Health and Safety Commission;
the Health and Safety Executive; and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Home Office, Fiona Mactaggart MP. The transcripts
of all these sessions are printed in full in Volume III of the
Report.
5. We are grateful to all those who submitted written
evidence or gave oral evidence to our inquiry. We would also like
to express our thanks to our two Specialist Advisers: Professor
Chris Clarkson, Professor and Dean of Law at the University of
Leicester and Professor Celia Wells, Professor of Law at Cardiff
University.
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