NHS Redress Bill [Lords]

I am pleased to have provided the hon. Member for Romsey (Sandra Gidley) with a ““first””. I find it hard to believe that that was the first occasion when such an offer was made to her, but never mind—I am happy to do the honours. I want to respond positively to the points that have been made. As the Bill makes clear, a scheme must provide for investigation reports to be available on request, as the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Dr. Taylor) acknowledged, but we recognise that that might not be appropriate in some cases, particularly those in which patient confidentiality or data protection issues are involved. In our view, to adopt a rigid approach in primary legislation would be a mistake, but as I said in response to the hon. Member for Billericay (Mr. Baron), the intention is that the report that the scheme member makes available to the NHS Litigation Authority would ordinarily be the self-same report provided to the individual patient, on request, at the end of the process. On the points raised by the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Hurd), we clearly must have regard to the administrative burden that primary legislation will place on scheme members. It would be a mistake to make the Bill so rigid as to increase the potential burden on individual scheme members, which is why we have sought to retain some flexibility. Some of these matters will indeed be dealt with through the regulation-making process, but I can assure the hon. Gentleman that there will be further consultation with Members and within the NHS to get the balance right. The balance that we seek is openness and transparency for the patient and the right to see the details of their case as provided to the NHS Litigation Authority, while at the same time not creating a scheme that is so rigid that it churns round paperwork and is unnecessarily bureaucratic.