NHS Redress Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 36:"Page 3, line 40, at end insert ““except in the case of a settlement agreement in respect of a child or incapacitated adult adults (as defined by part 21.1(2) of The Civil Procedure Rules 1998), where such an agreement must be subject to the approval of a court of law””" The noble Baroness said: This amendment bears a tremendous similarity to Amendment No. 38, which is grouped with it and deals with the same issue. Clause 6 deals with proceedings under the scheme. We have been lobbied by a number of organisations, not least the Law Society, which advised that, where a settlement agreement relates to a child or incapacitated adult as defined under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, agreement should be subject to the approval of the court and that such a provision should be included in the Bill. This measure is equivalent to other areas of law involving people likely to be in a position of having agreements settled for them in their name or accepted by another person. In such cases, it is always important to ensure that any agreement is in the best interests of that individual, albeit that that individual may be someone who does not have the capacity to express their wishes or to make what they believe to be in their best interests known for themselves. It would be advisable to have such a safeguard in the Bill, and therefore I beg to move.