Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

I rise to speak to amendment 142, which is in my name and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter) and the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Mr Llwyd)—I think that that is the correct pronunciation of his constituency, but I apologise to him if it is not. The amendment would put clinical negligence back into the scope for legal aid. The Bill will exclude many important areas of law from the scope of legal aid entirely, all of which deeply concern me. In my remarks, however, I wish to address specifically the issue of removing clinical negligence from the scope of legal aid, which will restrict access to justice for the very vulnerable, many of whom, no doubt, will reside in my constituency. In my respectful submission, victims of clinical negligence will suffer a double hit in the Bill: not only will they be unable to gain access to legal aid, but they will suffer the prospect of paying potentially crippling legal fees from their hard-fought-for damages. The Government tell us, ““That's not a problem, because conditional fee arrangements offer a safety net to victims of criminal negligence.”” I respectfully suggest that that is not the position. If CFAs were being left with their integrity intact, as the previous Government had intended, I might have had some sympathy with the Government's argument. CFAs were, if I am right, introduced by the previous Government to ensure that people who did not qualify for legal aid had an opportunity to instruct solicitors on a no win, no fee basis. Solicitors often take on complex and risky cases, knowing that they can claim costs and a success fee from the losing party, but proposed changes will result in victims who win their case paying costly legal fees out of their damages. That cannot be right. Damages are not, as the Government would have us believe, some sort of lottery win. They are paid for damage done to the individual. It is about putting a person who has suffered a loss back into the position they were in before the injury occurred. That point was summed up well by a criminal negligence lawyer in my constituency. Natalie Simkin is a solicitor for Williamsons solicitors, which is based in Hull city centre and deals with a great deal of these cases. She said:"““People do not choose to be injured and many suffer financial hardship because of their injuries… Is it really fair that they should lose some of their rightful compensation to spare the wrongdoer the full cost of putting things right?””" I agree with her remarks. In Committee, the Minister argued that some clinical cases would continue to receive legal aid funding through the exceptional funding scheme, but he did not bother to explain to the Committee the detail of that scheme. I wonder whether, when he comes to the Dispatch Box, he will explain fully the detail of that scheme. In my view, it will be extremely difficult. These cases seriously affect the most vulnerable people, including those who cannot afford to instruct solicitors and barristers. It is about the baby who suffers from the negligence of health service professionals, having been left for too long in the birth canal, as happened in a constituency case brought to me recently that has been going on for many, many years. It has involved protracted litigation, arguments to and fro between solicitors and advice from counsel, and it has been going on for about nine years. It involves unbelievably slow, complex and detailed law that people find difficult to comprehend. Some of those people would be left to paddle their own canoes as a result of the Bill. That cannot be right. Another case from my constituency—a case I have some knowledge of—involved a man who visited his GP's surgery three times in three days complaining of severe stomach pain. He was prescribed Gaviscon for his intense stomach pain, but collapsed some days later and was rushed to Hull royal infirmary. Having spent some time in the high-dependency unit, he died, leaving three sons. With the help of a litigation friend, those boys were able to seek legal redress. After five years, the case was settled out of court, after much to-ing and fro-ing between solicitors. I know something about that case because it was the case of my own brother, who died as a result of his GP's medical negligence. Access to justice is the cornerstone of a modern democratic society, and legal aid provides it for the most vulnerable. It seems bonkers that the Government should accept that self-litigation is likely to result from this Bill—to be honest, I find it shocking. Indeed, in his submissions and contributions in Committee, the Minister offered self-litigation as some sort of remedy. It is unbelievable to say that people can deal with complex cases without the help of solicitors and lawyers. Encouraging self-litigation for clinical negligence cases is economically short-sighted as well. I firmly believe that it will clog up the system; indeed, I think the Judges Council in England and Wales has made that very point. The Government have ignored all that. The Bar Council made representations to the Government in the consultation, but it, too, has been ignored. Indeed, looking across the Chamber, I see two silks on the Government Back Benches. I do not know this for sure, but I am pretty confident that both will have made representations to the Minister about how they, as experienced practitioners, believe the Bill's legal aid provisions will affect the justice system, all of which he has ignored. Perhaps the Government ought to consider promoting those Back Benchers to the Front Bench, because I can assure the House that such experienced, eminent members of the Bar would be able to assist them. I have further concerns about patient safety if clinical negligence cases are removed from the scope of legal aid. Removing the availability of redress must have an impact on patient safety. The vast majority of surgeons, doctors, nurses and dentists do a fantastic job most of the time; but of course, people make mistakes. It would not be right to prevent people from seeking redress when that occurs. I will not stray too far from the amendment, Mr Deputy Speaker, but we have a Government who in my view are effectively privatising the NHS. I served on the Committee considering the Health and Social Care Bill, every clause of which is to do with competition and, in my view, privatising the NHS. I firmly believe that more and more incidents of clinical negligence will occur as a result of this Government's agenda. Lord Jackson did not envisage a two-pronged attack on victims of clinical negligence when he made his recommendations. In this Bill, victims suffer the double whammy of taking legal aid out of scope for clinical negligence cases and making changes to conditional fee arrangements that leave victims footing the legal bills. The cost to the Government of funding clinical negligence cases out of a legal aid budget of £2.2 billion is £17 million—less than 1%. I find it shocking when I look at what the NHS Litigation Authority has said about this matter. It says that it favours keeping clinical negligence within the scope and it stated in response to the Government's consultation:"““Overall, we are strongly in favour of retaining legal aid for clinical negligence cases using current eligibility criteria””." I am well aware that many right hon. and hon. Friends are desperate to speak to the group of amendments on social welfare, so I will finish my remarks there.