1 INTRODUCTION
1. The draft Bribery Bill was published by the Ministry
of Justice on 25 March 2009 for pre-legislative scrutiny. Following
a series of avoidable delays our Joint Committee was formed on
11 May with a deadline of reporting on the draft Bill by 21 July.
2. We have sought a wide range of evidence to inform
our report. Over a five week period we heard oral evidence from
37 witnesses and in total received 61 written submissions. We
are grateful to all those who have contributed their views, including
the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), the United States Department of Justice
and several parliamentary select committees with a longstanding
interest in the draft Bill. We also commissioned an analysis
of the Impact Assessment published with the draft Bill from the
House of Commons Scrutiny Unit, which is published as Annex 1
to our report.
3. We acknowledge our gratitude to the Committee's
two specialist advisors, Professor Peter Alldridge of Queen Mary,
University of London and Professor Michael Clarke of the Royal
United Services Institute.
4. Although some of the provisions in the draft Bill
apply to Scotland, it is largely limited in extent to England,
Wales and Northern Ireland. We trust that the Government will
continue to work closely with the Scottish Executive on these
issues, particularly in view of their shared interest in meeting
the United Kingdom's international obligations.
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