NHS Redress Bill [Lords]

I welcome especially amendments Nos. 8, 9 and 10 and other consequential amendments. As the Minister said, we discussed the subject at some length in Committee. He seemed genuinely engaged and said that he would reconsider the matter. I therefore thank him for doing that because it is the first time that that has happened to me in my six years in this place. I am delighted that the Bill includes a clear statement that a report should be produced on action to prevent a recurrence of similar cases. As the Minister says, people mainly want to know that the likelihood of what happened to them recurring will be reduced. Many people’s prime motivation is not money. We need to be clear about that in our discussions today. I, too, am concerned about Government amendment No. 11, especially proposed new subsection (2B) to clause 6. The Minister claims that there is some flexibility and that the general aim is to provide a report, but it is still not crystal clear in what circumstances the report will be provided when the scheme is about to be terminated or an offer has been made. Some guarantees about that would be welcome because, although I do not doubt the Minister’s good intentions, the Bill now includes a clause that will enable future legislators and Governments to take a step back from what the Minister appears to claim. That is worrying. I, too, regard it as fundamental that a copy of the investigation report is available to all parties, bringing together the facts of the case as soon as possible so that everybody can reach a clear decision about what has gone wrong and the action that needs to be taken. The facts need to be on the table before we move to the next stage. Liberal Democrat Members disagree with the Government because we believe that an independent, separate stage is vital to the long-term success and acceptability of the scheme. Sadly, there will probably be further disagreement about that but I shall not repeat the arguments at this stage. I am worried that the report is available only on request. Although the ability to ask for a report is a step forward, I believe that the emphasis is slightly wrong. As has been said, it is not clear what extra bureaucratic burden making available a report, which has already been prepared, puts on the NHS. What reassurances will there be that patients under the scheme will even know that they have a right to ask for the report. Will that be part of the explanation process? How will they become aware of that? There is a host of legislation, but there is also a great deal of ignorance among the public about what is and what is not available. At the very least, there needs to be a clear procedure for informing a patient about any report. Perhaps there should be an opt-out rather than an opt-in, because I fully accept that there might be a small number of cases where patients, for a variety of possible reasons—they might have had a mental health problem associated with the report, or they might not want to be reminded of things—are not interested and do not want to see it. However, everybody should know that such a measure is available and be able to access it. Amendment No. 4 has cross-party and independent support. It makes it clear that there needs to be an independent investigation and that a report of any such investigation needs to be published. It also makes it clear that that needs to be an integral part of the process, rather than merely of the end of the proceedings. The Minister has clarified that point. Although I welcome the Government amendments, there are still a few small areas where refinements could be made to make the final version of the Bill clearer.