Clause 12 - Application of ``fit and proper'' test to companies etc.
Vehicles (Crime) Bill
8:45 pm
Mr Charles Clarke (Minister of State, Home Office; Norwich South, Labour)
To deal with the last point first, under clause 5(2)(b):
The local authority shall serve a notice on the person concerned stating... the reasons for it.
Those reasons offer the transparency that the hon. Gentleman quite reasonably seeks.
I draw the attention of the hon. Member for Lichfield to clause 1(1):
Any person who carries on business as a motor salvage operator in the area of a local authority without being registered for that area by the authority shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
That deals with sole traders and partners other than limited liability partners— individuals carrying on business in the specified way. As the hon. Gentleman appreciates, the provisions need to be wider to cover companies and limited liability partnerships. That takes us to clause 12(1) and (2), which demonstrate how that is to be done. We specify limited liability partnerships here because non-limited liability and ordinary partnerships are covered by clause 1(1).
The hon. Member for Lichfield's further two points amount to the same question—whether anyone other than the director or partners can play a significant role and should therefore be identified—and we debated it earlier in our proceedings. The legal responsibility of directors or partners is clear: it is absolute, and it remains so, however pernicious the influence acting on them. If the police were aware of such an influence and that blackmail or other illegal activities were taking place, further criminal offices could be considered. It would not be right, however, to specify in the Bill the process for identifying pernicious influences; it is better to say that responsibility lies with the organisation, its directors or partners.
An alternative would be to include a wider range of people, principally employees or business associates of the organisation. We could do that, but as I said earlier, it would amount to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and could undermine the fundamental principle that directors and limited liability partners are responsible. Those are the key issues, and I hope that the Committee will accept the clause.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 12 ordered to stand part of the Bill.