My Lords, I want to ask a question which was touched on by my noble friend Lord Beecham, by the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell of Surbiton, in our previous grouping, and also today by the noble Lord, Lord Pannick. At Second Reading, the Minister categorically assured your Lordships’ House that ensuring the courts have the information they need when awarding costs,
“does not mean that everyone who donates to a campaign will be at risk”. — [Official Report, 30 June 2014; col. 1542.]
Yet in both written and oral briefings that I have received, this very risk has been one of the concerns that have been raised. For example, Liberty and the Bar Council both warn of the chilling or deterrent effect of these clauses, which appear to mean that people who are not directly party to the proceedings but who have supported an applicant could be held liable for costs. Michael Spencer, solicitor for the Child Poverty Action Group—I remind the Committee of my interest as honorary president of that organisation, already referred to by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf—spoke to the Human Rights Lawyers Association and warned:
“If individuals or groups fundraise or seek donations to help bring their case, the financial clauses of the Bill will put their donors and funders at risk too”.
Will the Minister spell out in words that a non-lawyer can understand who will and will not be at risk of liability? If it is not everyone, is it someone or is it no one? There are two very different ways in which the assurance could be interpreted. If it is no one, could the Minister point—perhaps this is not so helpful for the non-lawyers—to where in the Bill that is made clear? Some people are reading the Bill as saying that it will affect someone, even if not absolutely everyone.
Perhaps the Minister could also answer some very specific questions put by the coalition of civil society organisations that have been briefing noble Lords about the clarity needed on third-party costs liability. They ask whether, if a family chips in to fund a relative’s challenge to a treatment in a care home, they will be liable for costs, perhaps putting their homes at risk. Lawyers may act pro bono to support people who cannot pay. Will their gift in kind mean that they are treated as someone funding or likely to fund the case?
If a community group uses crowdsourcing to fund litigation, as was the case with the Lewisham hospital challenge, will every donation carry a cost risk?
I hope that today, once and for all, it can be clarified who exactly is at risk as a result of these clauses. If the fears being voiced by so many organisations are realised, I suspect that noble Lords may want to come back to this matter on Report.