Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 126A:"After Clause 225, insert the following new clause—" ““DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED INFORMATION: OFFENCES (1)   A person is guilty of an offence if otherwise than in accordance with this Chapter he discloses any information which has been obtained by him in the exercise of his functions under this Chapter. (2)   A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable— (a)   on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine or to both; (b)   on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I realise that I may not have given sufficient emphasis to the need to increase the penalties for people who breach this law. I gave the example of the DVLA employee who was sentenced to only six months and had three months in prison. The amendment would require a person to be liable,"““on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine or to both””," and, on summary conviction,"““to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months””." At the moment, as I understand it, there can be no more than a summary conviction for this breach, and the maximum penalty would be six months. I think that the kind of people we are dealing with deserve more than that. Some of them are happily now in prison for various offences, and I hope that the authorities will really try to stop this. One way to do that is to ensure that the penalties are sufficiently fierce. I beg to move.