NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (TRANSFER OF OFFICERS AND COMPENSATION) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1960 (Hansard, 26 April 1960)

LORD ST. OSWALD

My Lords, the National Health Service (Transfer of Officers and Compensation) Regulations, 1948, provide for the payment of compensation to persons who suffer loss of employment or diminution of emoluments attributable to the passing of the National Health Service Act, 1946. Entitlement to compensations is subject to the condition that the cause of the claim must have arisen within ten years from the 5th July, 1948, the date on which the Act came into force. The same condition is an integral feature of the compensation codes which were made to provide for the consequences of the various measures of nationalisation and the present amendment does not seek to alter that condition.

For many years before the enactment of the National Health Service Act, 1946, it had been the practice at many hospitals (mainly mental hospitals) to undertake farming activities partly to provide employment for the patients and partly in order that the hospitals might have their own source of supply of farm produce. In a number of hospitals farming had developed far beyond what was necessary for either purpose. For example, at some hospitals large herds of pedigree cattle or pigs were being maintained.

The Act authorises the Minister only to provide hospital services and he has no powers to engage in farming except to the extent that it is an essential feature of the running of a hospital, and any hospital farming which does not satisfy that condition is outside the scope of the Minister's responsibility. The matter came under examination in the early years of the National Health Service, and in 1954 all hospital authorities were asked by the Minister to review their farming activities and the 11 amount of land held by them in the light of certain criteria. This review has led to a considerable reduction of farming activities by hospitals, and where hospital employees have lost their employment or their emoluments have suffered in consequence this has been regarded as a consequence of the passing of the Act and compensation under the Regulations has been paid.

In a few cases the review was protracted, and even after the decision to dispose of a farm had been taken it was not always possible to dispose of the farm before July 5, 1958: that is, ten years from the coming into force of the National Health Service Act. Occasionally also it was found prudent to delay the actual sale of a farm. It has therefore come about in a few cases that employees have not been made redundant until after July 5, 1958, even though the decision to dispose of the farm was taken before that date. The operation of the Regulations as at present worded excludes the consideration of the entitlement of such persons for compensation and this would cause injustice.

The purpose of the amendment is to clarify the scope of the Regulations and to make it clear that even if employment is lost after the expiry of ten years from the coming into force of the Act the case may still be considered for compensation under the Regulations, but only if it was the result of a decision by or on behalf of the Minister taken within that period. I beg to move.