Clause 1
Compensation Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Angela Watkinson (Whip, Whips; Upminster, Conservative)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his thoughtful intervention. He has triggered my awareness of an omission in my introduction; I should have said that the amendment is introduced in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Hertfordshire, my own and that of the Liberal Democrat spokesman, the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey. I apologise for forgetting to do that.
I return to the Arculus report from the Better Regulation Task Force entitled “Better Routes to Redress”, which Members may recall was published in May 2004 and it put forward this view:
"an exaggerated fear of litigation, regardless of fault can be debilitating. The fear of litigation can make organisations over cautious in their behaviour. Local communities and local authorities cancel events unnecessarily and ban activities which, until recently, would have been considered routine. Businesses may be in danger of becoming less innovative and without innovation there will be no progress".
Those words underpin the strength of the case for being more certain about the impact of the legislation and therefore moving from a discretionary situation to a mandatory one. That is why I move the amendment.