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Session 2006-07 Publications on the internet Bill Home Page |
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Monday 4th December 2006 Consideration of Bill Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill New ClauseS Individual officers’ liability Mr Andrew Dismore
NC1 To move the following Clause:— ‘(1) An officer of an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter or corporate homicide if— (a) that organisation is guilty of an offence under section 1; and (b) that officer’s conduct by way of act or omission contributed to its breach referred to in section 1(1). (2) In this section, “officer” means the chairman, managing director, chief executive or secretary of the organisation.’. Individual officers’ liability: penalties Mr Andrew Dismore
NC2 To move the following Clause:— ‘An officer of an organisation who is guilty of corporate manslaughter or corporate homicide under section [Individual officers’ liability] is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment or a fine.’. Liability of holding company Mr Dominic Grieve
NC3 To move the following Clause:— ‘(1) In the case of a corporation which is found guilty of corporate manslaughter, any holding company of such corporation shall be guilty of an offence if the holding company failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent such corporation from committing the offence. (2) A corporation that is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine. (3) An offence under this section is indictable in Scotland only in the High Court of Justiciary. (4) For the purposes of this section the term “holding company” shall have the meaning set out in section 736 of the Companies Act 1985 (c. 6).’. Members of senior management liable to disqualification as company directors Mr John Denham
NC4 To move the following Clause:— ‘Where an offence under section 1 committed by an organisation to which that section applies is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any member of the senior management of the organisation who is a director of a company, section 2(1) of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (c. 46) (disqualification on conviction of indictable offence) shall apply to him as if he had been convicted of an offence falling within that subsection.’. Proceedings against unincorporated bodies other than Crown bodies Mr Edward Davey
NC5 To move the following Clause:— ‘(1) Proceedings for an offence under section 1, alleged to have been committed by any unincorporated association or body other than a Crown body, shall be brought in the name of that association or body (and not in that of any individual member or other person) and for the purposes of such proceedings any rules of court relating to the service of documents apply as if that association or body were a corporation. (2) A fine imposed on an unincorporated association or body on its conviction of such an offence shall be paid out of the funds of that association or body. (3) In a case in which an unincorporated association or body is charged with such an offence, section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and Schedule 3 to the Magistrates Court Act 1980 (procedure on charge of an offence against a corporation) have effect in like manner as in the case of a corporation so charged.’. Offence by senior manager Ian Stewart
NC6 To move the following Clause:— ‘(1) A senior manager of an organisation is guilty of an offence if by his acts or omissions which amounted to a gross breach of his duty he could have prevented an offence under section 1. (2) For the purposes of this section a person is a “senior manager” of an organisation if he plays a significant role in the making of decisions about how the activities of the organisation are managed or organised and includes the chairman, managing director, chief executive, secretary or other director of the organisation. (3) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on conviction on indictment to— (a) imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or (b) a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both.’. Aiding and abetting Ian Stewart
NC7 To move the following Clause:— ‘Any company director or senior manager who is found to have aided, abetted, counselled or procured the commission of an offence of corporate manslaughter or corporate homicide shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years.’. Ian Stewart
33 Page 1, line 1 [Clause 1], at end insert ‘of corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide’. Mr Alistair Carmichael 25 Page 1, line 6 [Clause 1], at beginning insert ‘in England and Wales and Northern Ireland’. Mr Alistair Carmichael 26 Page 1, line 7 [Clause 1], at end insert ‘, or (c) in Scotland amounts to a reckless disregard for the safety of the deceased. (1A) A senior manager of an organisation is reckless where as regards a circumstance or as to a possible result of an act he is or ought to have been aware of an obvious and serious risk that the circumstance exists or that the result will follow but nonetheless acts where no reasonable person would do so.’. Mr Andrew Dismore
1 Page 1, line 11 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(d) a partnership; (e) an unincorporated association.’. Mr Edward Davey
22 Page 1, line 11 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(d) a partnership (as defined in section 1 of the Partnership Act 1890 (c. 39)), where that partnership is subject to some or all of the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; (e) an unincorporated association or body, where it is subject to some or all of the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.’. Mr Alistair Carmichael 27 Page 1, line 11 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(d) a business association’. Mr Andrew Dismore
2 Page 2, line 4 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(iii) the actual managing or organising of a discrete site or sites where the organisation’s activities take place.’. Mr Edward Davey
21 Page 2, line 4 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(iii) the making of decisions about how a discrete site or sites where the organisation’s activities take place are to be managed or organised.’. Mr Alistair Carmichael 28 Page 2, line 9 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(5A) Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect or recklessness on the part of, any senior manager, he as well as the organisation shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.’. Mr Alistair Carmichael 29 Page 2, line 11 [Clause 1], after ‘to’, insert ‘(a)’. Mr Alistair Carmichael 30 Page 2, line 11 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(b) an admonition; (c) a compensation order.’. Mr Alistair Carmichael 31 Page 2, line 13 [Clause 1], at end insert— ‘(8) Any penalty imposed under subsection (5A) above shall be notified by the court to the Registrar of Companies and the Registrar of Companies in Scotland.’. Mr Edward Davey
23 Page 2, line 16 [Clause 2], after ‘any’, insert ‘duty imposed on it by a statutory provision listed in Schedule [List of statutory provisions] or any.’. Mr Douglas Hogg 78 Page 2, line 19 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘(aa) a duty to members of the public who may be affected by the way in which the persons referred to in paragraph (a) perform their duties;’. Mr Andrew Dismore
3 Page 2, line 20 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘(bb) a duty owed in respect of the detention of any person in lawful custody;’. Mr Dominic Grieve
72 Page 2, line 22 [Clause 2], after ‘supply’, insert ‘or provision’. Mr John Denham
12 Page 2, line 29 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘(d) a duty owed to anyone held in custody.’. Secretary John Reid 47 Page 2, line 30 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘( ) A reference in subsection (1) to a duty owed under the law of negligence includes a reference to a duty that would be owed under the law of negligence but for any statutory provision under which liability is imposed in place of liability under that law.’. Secretary John Reid 48 Page 2, line 33 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘( ) For the purposes of this Act there is to be disregarded— (a) any rule of the common law that has the effect of preventing a duty of care from being owed by one person to another by reason of the fact that they are jointly engaged in unlawful conduct; (b) any such rule that has the effect of preventing a duty of care from being owed to a person by reason of his acceptance of a risk of harm.’. Mr Edward Davey
24 Page 2, line 33 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘(3A) The Secretary of State may amend Schedule [List of statutory provisions] by order. An order under this section is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.’. Mr John Denham
13 Page 3, line 3 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘ “custody” includes being held in prison, secure mental healthcare facilities, secure children’s homes, secure training centres, immigration removal centres, court cells and police cells, and being subject to supervision by court, prisoner and detainee escort services;’. Secretary John Reid 49 Page 3, line 16 [Clause 2], at end insert— ‘“statutory provision” means provision contained in, or in an instrument made under, any Act, any Act of the Scottish Parliament or any Northern Ireland legislation.’. Mr Edward Davey
42 Page 3, line 23 [Clause 3], leave out subsection (2). Mr John Denham
14 Page 3, line 25 [Clause 3], leave out ‘or (b)’ and insert ‘(b) or (d)’. Mr Andrew Dismore 41 Page 3, line 25 [Clause 3], leave out ‘or (b)’ and insert ‘, (b) or (bb)’. Mr Andrew Dismore
9 Page 3, line 27 [Clause 3], leave out from ‘is’ to end of line 28 and insert ‘a “relevant duty of care”.’. Mr John Denham
15 Page 3, line 28 [Clause 3], leave out ‘or (b)’ and insert ‘(b) or (d)’. Mr Edward Davey
43 Page 3 [Clause 3], leave out lines 30 to 34. Mr Edward Davey
44 Page 3 [Clause 3], leave out lines 40 to 42. Mr Douglas Hogg 76 Page 3, line 44 [Clause 4], at beginning insert ‘Subject to subsection (5),’. Secretary John Reid 50 Page 4, line 8 [Clause 4], after ‘in’ insert ‘the course of’. Mr Douglas Hogg 77 Page 4, line 19 [Clause 4], at end insert— ‘(5) This section shall not apply where the relevant duty of care in respect of which the Ministry of Defence was in breach was a duty to provide adequate equipment or training, or was a failure to provide for such reinforcements as might reasonably have been expected.’. Mr Dominic Grieve
74 Page 4, line 21 [Clause 5], leave out subsection (1) and insert— ‘(1) Subsection (3) shall apply where— (a) it is established that a public authority owed a relevant duty of care to a person, (b) the duty of care was owed in respect of— (i) operations within subsection (2), (ii) activities carried on in preparation for, or directly in support of, such operations, (iii) training of a hazardous nature, or training carried out in a hazardous way, which it is considered needs to be carried out, or carried out in that way, in order to improve or maintain the effectiveness of the police with respect to such operations, or (iv) policing or law enforcement activities which do not fall within section 2(1)(a) or (b), and (c) it falls to the jury to decide whether there was a gross breach of that duty of care.’. Mr Douglas Hogg 79 Page 4, line 21 [Clause 5], at beginning insert ‘Subject to subsection (5),’. Mr Douglas Hogg 80 Page 4, line 21 [Clause 5], after ‘authority’, insert ‘, other than to a person referred to in section 2(1)(aa),’. Mr Andrew Dismore
6 Page 4, line 25 [Clause 5], leave out paragraph (c). Secretary John Reid 51 Page 4, line 30 [Clause 5], leave out subsection (2) and insert— ‘( ) Operations are within this subsection if— (a) they are operations for dealing with terrorism, civil unrest or serious disorder, (b) they involve the carrying on of policing or law-enforcement activities, and (c) officers or employees of the public authority in question come under attack, or face the threat of attack or violent resistance, in the course of the operations.’. Mr Dominic Grieve
75 Page 4, line 34 [Clause 5], leave out subsection (3) and insert— ‘(3) When determining whether there was a gross breach of the duty of care, the jury must consider the following factors where they are shown to have affected the performance by the organisation of the operation, activity or training in question— (a) the nature of the operation, activity or training and the context in which it was performed, (b) other relevant factors to which the organisation was subject, including statutory duties and duties of care under the law of negligence, (c) resource constraints, and (d) public interest considerations.’. Mr Andrew Dismore
4 Page 4, line 36 [Clause 5], at end insert ‘or (bb)’. Mr Andrew Dismore
5 Page 5, line 4 [Clause 5], at end insert— ‘(e) the management of a prison, youth offenders’ institute, police station custody unit, immigration accommodation centre, or any other place of lawful detention.’. Mr Dominic Grieve
16 Page 5, line 4 [Clause 5], at end insert— ‘(e) the management of a prison, young offenders’ institution, police custody unit, immigration accommodation centre or any other place of lawful detention.’. Mr Douglas Hogg 81 Page 5, line 7 [Clause 5], at end insert— ‘(5) This section shall not apply where the duty of care in respect of which the public authority was in breach was a duty to provide adequate equipment, training, control or supervision.’. Mr Edward Davey
45 Page 5, line 9 [Clause 6], leave out subsection (1) and insert— ‘(1) Subsection (3) shall apply where— (a) it is established that an organisation owed a relevant duty of care to a person, (b) the duty of care does not fall within section 2(1)(a) or (b) and was owed— (i) by an organisation within subsection (2) in respect of the way in which it responds to emergency circumstances (or circumstances believed to be emergency circumstances), (ii) in respect of the carrying out, or attempted carrying out, of a rescue operation at sea in emergency circumstances (or circumstances believed to be emergency circumstances), or (iii) in respect of action taken either in order to comply with a direction under Schedule 3A to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (c. 21) (safety directions), or by virtue of paragraph 4 of that Schedule (action in lieu of direction), and (c) it falls to the jury to decide whether there was a gross breach of the duty of care.’. Secretary John Reid 52 Page 5, line 10 [Clause 6], leave out ‘(or circumstances believed to be emergency circumstances)’. Mr Dominic Grieve
17 Page 5, line 17 [Clause 6], leave out paragraph (d) and insert— ‘(d) any other organisation employing people whose duties involve extinguishing fires, or protecting life and property in the event of fire, or responding to emergency circumstances (or circumstances believed to be emergency circumstances);’. Secretary John Reid 53 Page 5, line 18 [Clause 6], leave out ‘(or circumstances believed to be emergency circumstances)’. Mr Dominic Grieve
18 Page 5, line 29 [Clause 6], at end insert— ‘(ga) any organisation providing healthcare services in pursuance of arrangements made by, or at the request of, a relevant NHS body;’. |
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| © Parliamentary copyright 2006 | Prepared: 4 December 2006 |