Clause 181
Enterprise Bill
12:45 pm
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
It would be helpful to run through the amendments quickly, but in view of the remarks of the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland, I should certainly go through them in more detail.
The Bill provides for the SFO and OFT to prosecute the new offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is the Government's expectation—and that of the OFT and the SFO—that the SFO will carry out all the prosecutions initially. In Scotland, the OFT will investigate. As the hon. Gentleman said, there is no Scottish OFT, but the Crown Office is training OFT officers, so his point is being met in that way.