Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons

Publisher:

Published: 2006-11-16

Total Pages: 19

ISBN-13: 9780215802507

Following on from the Government's draft Bill (Cm. 6497, ISBN 010164972X published for pre-legislative scrutiny in March 2005), this Bill has 23 clauses with two schedules and makes provision for a new offence of corporate manslaughter (to be called corporate homicide in Scotland) to apply to all companies and other types of incorporated body (including many in the public sector such as local authorities), as well as, for the first time, government departments and other Crown bodies. This would apply to situations where a gross failing by senior management to take reasonable care for the safety of employees or the public causes a person's death. It seeks to move away from the current need to link a company's guilt with the gross negligence of an individual who is taken to embody the organisation, to a more effective means of prosecuting organisational negligence resulting in death which reflects the gravity and consequences of the conduct involved.