Government responds to Lords Committee report on the Bribery Act 2010

28 May 2019 02:16 PM

The Select Committee on the Bribery Act 2010 receives the Government response to the report: The Bribery Act 2010: post-legislative scrutiny, published on 14 March 2019.

• Report: The Bribery Act 2010: post-legislative scrutiny (HTML
• Report: The Bribery Act 2010: post-legislative scrutiny (PDF)
• Written evidence volume: The Bribery Act 2010: post-legislative scrutiny ( PDF 2.61 MB)
• Oral evidence volume: The Bribery Act 2010: post-legislative scrutiny ( PDF 2.36 MB)
• Select Committee on the Bribery Act 2010

The Committee is grateful to the Government for accepting several of the Committee’s recommendations, especially in relation to online information provision for small and medium enterprises, no deal Brexit planning, and support for businesses encountering bribery internationally. However, the Committee is disappointed by the Government’s lack of enthusiasm for certain recommendations. In particular, the Government’s refusal to: clarify the Ministry of Justice Guidance on the Bribery Act 2010; to provide extra resources to help the City of London Police, national police forces, and the Government’s Anti-Corruption Champion tackle bribery; to streamline consent procedure for prosecutions under the Bribery Act; and to draw a distinction between the discount granted as part of a deferred prosecution agreement to a company which has self-reported an instance of bribery and one which has not. The Committee believes these measures would go a long way in tackling bribery and encourage the Government to reconsider.

Debate

As the Government response has now been received, a debate will be timetabled in the House of Lords.

Further information

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