Clause 8
NHS Redress Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
John Pugh (Shadow Minister, Health; Southport, Liberal Democrat)
I shall be brief, not simply because of events later today, but because much of the current dispute comes down to differences of philosophy and about the type of beast that we expect the Bill to be. The issues of detail that have been picked up simply reflect that fundamental difference. The Government have said, fairly expressly, that they want the Bill to remain in its current form and to be the kind of creature that it is now. I was a little surprised, therefore, when I saw amendment No. 9, which would remove a paragraph that appeared to enhance the scheme as the Government understand it. The measure would allow
“for the provision in connection with proceedings...of legal advice without charge”,
which most people would assume to be a good thing ordinarily. The official Opposition’s position is that, through the amendments in the Lords, they are making an enhanced offer. They are trying to offer us a superior Bill, which will have merits that the current Bill does not. If the Government do not accept that substantial improvement, we have to consider whether the best, in this case, is actually the enemy of the good. Would we prefer the Bill to proceed, amended in the way that the Government wish, with this paragraph taken out? If we voted on this and the paragraph were removed and the Government got their way in every other respect, would it be a good thing? I do not think that it would.
My concern is not about the free legal advice, but about what the advice covers. There are certain issues, which we shall touch on when we come to amendment No. 22, such as the instruction of medical experts, where legal advice is a moot issue and the Government may not think that a scheme should provide that. The question of a person’s qualification for legal aid if they decide to disown the redress system or to participate in it also worries me a little. I understand that no matter how one puts oneself on the redress system, one’s legal rights in court remain exactly the same. But will the entitlement to legal aid remain the same? I cannot support the Conservatives’ proposal, although I sympathise with its spirit, simply because I suspect that at the end of the day the Government will get their way and the Bill will be worse if this paragraph is taken out.