§ Lords amendment: No. 114, in page 68, line 17, at end insert "or regulations under subsection (8B)".
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton)I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Ms WintertonThe amendments cover part 3 of the Bill, which provides for the recovery of NHS charges. All the amendments deal with issues raised and debated at length in Committee and in the other place. Amendments Nos. 114 to 119 would enable regulations to be made so that contributory negligence—where the injured party is partially responsible—would be taken into account when calculating NHS costs, if an agreement on that issue has been reached as part of a settlement of a personal injury claim through a prescribed mediation process, as endorsed by the court. The Bill already contains provision for that purpose.
§ Mr. Simon Burns (West Chelmsford)Will the regulations be made under the affirmative or the negative procedure?
§ Ms WintertonThey will be made under the negative procedure. It was argued, persuasively, in the other place that in the present climate—in which the courts urge parties at least to consider other ways to deal with disputes—there was a case for considering whether some of the alternative dispute resolution procedures, especially mediation, should be included in the processes that could be accepted as a means of confirming contributory negligence findings for the purpose of calculating NHS costs. The Secretary of State and Scottish Ministers will be able to make regulations covering issues such as the qualifications of the mediator, the nature of the mediation process and the types of statement about contributory negligence that would be needed to be included in the mediation.
§ Mr. LansleyLast week I was able to attend the annual general meeting of the Cambridge and District Community Mediation Service. May I make a plea that the Government think positively about ways in which they can support such services' core funding? That is a continuing problem for such organisations, which provide a valuable alternative dispute resolution procedure that we want to use in future if we can.
§ Ms WintertonFrom my previous post in the Lord Chancellor's Department, I am aware of the many benefits offered by mediation.
874 Lords amendment No. 120 will make it possible to issue a further certificate specifying a higher amount in NHS costs than a previous certificate only if the reason for the increase is that incorrect or insufficient information had previously been supplied by the person to whom the certificate is issued. Therefore, if a clerical error is made by the scheme's administrators, no further certificate for the correct amount, if that is higher than the amount specified in the original certificate, can be issued. That means that compensators will not have to pay the price of a mistake by the administrators.
Amendments to change the level of parliamentary scrutiny afforded to some of the regulation-making powers in part 3 were also made in the other place in response both to concerns raised and to recommendations of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.
§ Mr. BurnsGiven the pressure of time, I shall be extremely brief.
We warmly welcome the Government's acceptance of the amendments, which, I understand, followed arguments made in another place by my noble Friend Lord Hunt of Wirral. As the Minister said, it is important to encourage the use of mediation where such a system is feasible in order to minimise some of the problems that might arise if that additional battery of weapons to resolve disputes is not available. For that reason, we are pleased that the Government have accepted the amendments.
Lords amendment agreed to.
Lords amendments Nos. 115 to 120 agreed to.
It being one hour after the commencement of proceedings on remaining Lords amendments, MR. DEPUTY SPEAKER put the Questions necessary for the disposal of the business to be concluded at that hour, pursuant to Order [this day].
Lords amendment No. 161 disagreed to.
Government amendments (a) to (bb) to the words so restored agreed to.
Remaining Lords amendments agreed to [some with Special Entry].
Committee appointed to draw up Reasons to be assigned to the Lords for disagreeing to their amendments Nos. 1, 5, 26, 28 and 29: Mr. Paul Burstow, Mr. John Hutton, Mr. Andrew Lansley, Joan Ryan and Claire Ward; Mr. John Hutton to be Chairman of the Committee; Three to be the quorum of the Committee.—[Joan Ryan.]
To withdraw immediately.
Reasons for disagreeing to certain Lords amendments reported, and agreed to; to be communicated to the Lords.
Sitting suspended, pursuant to Order [10 November].
875 7 pm
On resuming—