Compensation Bill [HL]

I am grateful for the noble Viscount’s caution. Perhaps he should have given me that advice before I said it in Grand Committee. I am not going to be held responsible for newspaper articles which I have not seen and which firm up what I said in Committee. I stand by what I said in Committee—in fact it is in my speaking note—that my ambition is to get this ready for October. One of the reasons it can only be an ambition is because I have no idea how long your Lordships will take to get the Bill out of your Lordships’ House in good order and through another place. If noble Lords allow the Bill to pass through the Report stage very quickly and on to Third Reading with minimum—if any—amendment, my ambition will be closer to being realised. That is a rather flippant answer, I appreciate, but none the less it is my ambition to try and do this as quickly as possible because it is an important subject. I thought it right and proper to tell the Committee absolutely what I hope to achieve. In all seriousness, whether I achieve it is dependent, to some extent, on the business management in both Houses and whether I am able to satisfy Members of this Committee and noble Lords beyond that I have done what I said I would do and that the Bill is in good shape. I know there are a number of factors within that which create uncertainty rather than flexibility but I would like to try to do that. I accept that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, has been particularly strong with me, both in the Committee and outside, in trying to ensure that the Government take this issue as seriously as possible and act as swiftly as possible. It is an ambition. We gulp at the ambition we have taken on but I would like to see it happen. Assuming that we can get on in the best order possible and are able to get the Bill through another place swiftly, I hope to realise that ambition. Given that I have made that commitment, I shall keep noble Lords informed if I feel I am not going to achieve my ambition and explain the reasons why not.