Written evidence to be reported to the House
Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
1:15 pm
Edward Garnier (Shadow Minister, Justice; Harborough, Conservative)
I can see that.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has been the subject of quite heated discussion in Parliament over the last year or so, particularly in relation to the application of that law to custodial and police premises. It is in, but it is a case of “Oh Lord, make me perfect, but not yet.” It does not apply to the Prison Service and police cells for three years.
Forgetting the party politics of this, as a dispassionate but clearly interested observer, would it assist you or the commissioner if the Act applied to custodial premises immediately, not least because it seems from the clauses of the Bill that we are concerned with now that sometimes you may have to defer or at least have the power to defer an investigation until criminal proceedings are concluded? I can see a situation in which, at the moment, with the three-year delay, you might be investigating something that ought more properly to be investigated by the police as opposed to the Health and Safety Executive, and things may happen or not happen, documents may or may not disappear and witnesses may or may not have statements taken from them, which could inhibit either your processes or the Crown Prosecution Service processes in arriving at justice.