Clause 18 - Offence: bodies corporate, I beg to move amendment No. 15, in clause 18, page 9, line 3, leave out from 'has' to 'fact' in line 4 and insert
Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill
4:30 pm
Humfrey Malins (Shadow Minister, (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Woking, Conservative)
The clause states that a body is treated as knowing a fact about an employee
''if a person who has responsibility within the body for an aspect of the employment knows the fact.''
That is a wide definition—perhaps too wide. Many people in a body have some responsibility for some aspect of the employment. The buck ought to stop with somebody, such as the principal officer of the body. I have in mind a sports club that I know, within 30 miles of here—I do not want to give more detail than that for obvious reasons—which, in my judgment, employs someone in a part-time capacity who should not be in the country. Of course, I do not have anything to do with that and thus am not open to prosecution, but a number of people in the club are responsible for some aspect of the matter. Truly, the buck should stop with the principal person involved, rather than many people. Let us see if the Minister can justify that very general phrase.