Compensation Bill [Lords]

I will discuss the retrospective aspects of the proposal shortly. The ABI has been helpful, and we have taken on board a number of issues that it has raised. We think that that method will be faster than setting up a board, which would require rules, regulations and appointments. We will be able to get compensation to people from the moment of Royal Assent, which employers and insurers will, where appropriate, be able to claim back. The system will be swifter and simpler for victims—the hon. Gentleman supports the new clause, and he knows that our main focus is getting compensation to victims as swiftly as possible. On retrospection, amendment No. 8 allows the provision to be retrospective, which means that it will apply to claims settled or determined on or after 3 May 2006—the date of the Barker judgment—and it allows parties to seek the variation of any such settlement or determination. It will also apply to cases that have not been concluded. We regard it as being of the utmost importance that all claimants affected by the Barker judgment can secure full compensation, including the parties to that case, the parties to the cases conjoined with that case and the parties to cases subsequently settled or determined on the apportionment basis proposed by Barker. I recognise that this is an exceptional step, but I believe that it is justified. I hope that it will have the full support of this House given the exceptional circumstances and that it will not raise difficulties in relation to compliance with the European convention on human rights. There are number of reasons why that is the case, and I want to set them out. First, the degree of retrospection is strictly limited and will apply only to a very short period and a very few cases. It is my understanding that following Barker, the great majority of cases that were under way have been stayed pending clarification of the appropriate method of apportionment or in the light of the Government’s announcement that they intended to introduce these amendments. I am grateful to the judiciary for waiting to hear exactly what we intended to do before they carried those cases through. In addition, those cases—and any that have currently not been concluded—will have commenced prior to Barker, so the expectation of both claimants and defendants will have been that joint and several liability would apply. We are therefore not interfering with the settled expectations of the parties to any of those proceedings. I believe that it would be unacceptable to provide assistance to future claimants but to leave a small group whose claims are unresolved, or have been concluded on the basis of Barker, to suffer the real disadvantages arising from that judgment—and I therefore believe that the provisions on retrospectivity are therefore proportionate and justifiable. We are talking about barely seven or eight weeks.