HC Deb 06 July 1987 vol 119 c15W
Mr. Adley

asked the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Christchurch on 29 June, Official Report, column 236, to which inquiries he was referring when he stated that in relation to previous public inquiries into matters analogous with the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster, a policy of not bringing criminal charges had been applied.

Mr. David Mitchell

My right hon. Friend was referring to formal investigations ordered under section 55 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970. But the same policy is applied in relation to all such inquiries, as evidenced in the Government's response to recommendation 22 of the Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry 1966, Cmnd. 3121.