§ 5.33 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT SIMON rose to ask His Majesty's Government what is the present position of Government proposals for dealing with alternative remedies which it is admitted must be provided for by further legislation before the Workmen's Compensation Acts are repealed and the Industrial Injuries Act comes into force? The noble and learned Viscount said: My Lords, I would just remind your Lordships that the Second Reading of the Industrial Injuries Act took place on March 12 last year. The Bill had come to us from another place, and it contained an obvious omission because there was nothing in it to take the place of the provisions which are contained in the present Workmen's Compensation Acts dealing with alternative remedies.
§ As all your Lordships who are familiar with the subject will know, under the Workmen's Compensation Acts a man who is injured sometimes brings an action directly against his employer alleging his employer is answerable to the Common Law for failing to fence machinery. If he succeeds he gets a lump sum of money, and in that event, he has no workmen's compensation claim as well. But if he is mistaken in bringing his action—and he is liable to fail—he does not necessarily lose all he wants, because the law of the Workmen's Compensation Acts permits a claim to be re-framed so that he may get the proper compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts. All that appears to be to be perfectly right, and I believe it has worked well. Under the Act, although it has not yet reached the appointed day for coming into force, the Workmen's Compensation Acts will be completely repealed, and there is substituted a system of industrial pension and the like for injury.
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I do not think it is disputed that something must be done to deal with this topic of alternative remedies, and I am encouraged to think so because when I called attention to this omission in the Bill last year, and asked whether it was intended to pass it into law without this matter of alternative remedies being dealt with under the new situation, the Lord Chancellor expressed some regret that it had not been possible to introduce the clause in another place. He went on to say:
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The Workmen's Compensation Acts do not come to an end on the passing of this Bill, but only on the appointed day. Quite obviously a very considerable time must elapse before the appointed day comes, because it is necessary to have the same appointed day for this Bill and the other Bill,"—
By "the other Bill" he meant, I think, the National Insurance Act—
and before the appointed day comes we must have legislation dealing with alternative remedies. I quite agree that it would be wrong to leave the employer in a position in which he could be shot at twice over for the same thing. The point is, shall we do it in this Bill (if we get the Committee's Report in time), or shall we wait and do it afterwards? In any case it obviously has to be done before the appointed day comes. In Clause 88 of the Bill you will find it stated that the repeal of the existing Acts be only as from the appointed day. I gave your Lordships the assurance that we shall deal with it; the question is whether we deal with it in this Bill or in a separate Bill?
§ That was of course a reasonable attitude to us, if I may say so, but since that was said so long ago as March, 1946, and a great deal has happened since then, it is probably useful to ask the noble and learned Viscount whether he will be so good as to give us some intimation as to how the matter now stands.
§ 5.40 p.m.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount for raising this question. I still stand by my assurance. I am afraid the position has been a very difficult one. I did not realize how complicated this problem was until I and those of my colleagues immediately concerned had to look into it. It is very difficult indeed. However, we have looked into it, and I expect to be able to introduce a Bill early next Session in time to be passed before the Industrial Injuries Act is brought into operation.
§ VISCOUNT SIMONI am much obliged to the noble and learned Viscount on the Woolsack.