Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall carry on with my reply to the noble Lord, Lord Henley, on payments under the extra-statutory scheme being made to lawyers. Further information relating to the scheme will be published in due course when it is fully established and ready for operation. I shall expand on what is being done to speed up the mesothelioma claims process. As I said in my response to the last group of amendments, we are setting up a working group and hope to be able to say more about it shortly. The amendments relate to my noble friend’s Bill and refer to the amount of damages that would be achievable if her Bill became law. We are concerned to ensure that legal costs are properly controlled in civil proceedings generally and we are considering the very important recommendations made by Sir Rupert Jackson in his comprehensive review of litigation costs. The amendments raise interesting issues. They may well turn out to be probing, but I do not know yet. If not, we might consider their phrasing to be rather draconian.