Clause 1
Health and Safety (Offences) Bill
9:45 am
Keith Hill (Streatham, Labour)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and I absolutely take his point. Although I have some instinctive sympathy with the proposal, I am unable to it, because it requires primary legislation, about which I can make no commitments. If we were simply in the business of uprating fines under existing legislation through this Bill—there have been no changes in the level of fine or standard scale of charges since 1992, which is surprising—we would be considering a 30 per cent. increase in the fine to allow for inflation, which would take it to £6,500. We are in fact doing a good deal more than that. We are making a qualitative change, by making a large-scale increase in the level of fine, to reflect a change of consensus in our attitude towards health and safety offences. I hope that that satisfies the hon. Gentleman.