Compensation Bill [HL]

I appreciate what the noble Lord seeks to do. What I am trying to explain to the noble Lord, as the noble Lord from his vast experience in government will know, is that when one embarks on a journey of looking at how best to deal with a particular issue, it is absolutely appropriate to take that issue to develop one’s thinking and to then reach the point where one puts that thinking either into legislation or, as the noble Lord will know very well, the work of the ministerial steering group. I would argue that the legislation has come from what the Prime Minister said, but, so too has the work of the ministerial steering group that I chair, which contains, as the noble Lord knows, nine government departments working together. One of the consequences of that will be that guidelines may well be issued around a number of subjects; for example, noble Lords will know that we are looking at rehabilitation in the group chaired by myself and my noble friend, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. We have work going on with the Department for Education and Skills in order particularly to address schools’ risk assessments, school trips and so on and with our colleagues in the Department of Health, linking of course to the NHS Redress Bill but also looking at issues concerning NHS trusts and their relationship with those who might seek to advertise, for example, in their premises. We have work going on with the Home Office on volunteer and police work. All of those, or none of those, may contain guidelines. I simply point out that when the Prime Minister set out his thinking it was before we had developed the ministerial group and the legislation. There are no secrets in that. I am not saying anything other than that. I think it is highly appropriate for a Prime Minister to do.