Compensation Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 19:"After Clause 1, insert the following new clause—" ““PUBLIC AUTHORITIES (1)   The following principles apply in determining whether a public or other authority has taken appropriate steps to meet the standard of care— (a)   the functions required to be exercised by the authority are limited by the financial and other resources that are reasonably available to the authority for the purpose of exercising those functions, (b)   the general allocation of those resources by the authority is not open to challenge, (c)   the functions required to be exercised by the authority are to be determined by reference to the broad range of its activities (and not merely by reference to the claim in negligence being considered by the court), (d)   the authority may rely on evidence of its compliance with the general procedures and applicable standards for the exercise of its functions as evidence of the proper exercise of its functions in the claim being considered by the court. (2)   Subject to subsection (3), this section extends to any liability of the authority for breach of statutory duty. (3)   This section shall not apply to claims by an employee against an employer arising out of the course of his employment. (4)   For the purpose of this section, ““public or other authority”” includes— (a)   the Crown, (b)   Government departments, (c)   NHS bodies, (d)   local councils, (e)   any public or local authority constituted by or under an Act, or (f)   any person having public official functions or acting in a public official capacity (whether or not employed as a public official), but only in relation to the exercise of the person’s public official functions.”” The noble Lord said: This, too, is modelled on a New South Wales provision, allowing the courts to take into account the financial and resource constraints on public authorities when considering whether steps should be taken. The particular reason for introducing this amendment is to highlight for the Committee the background of public authorities being forced to spend substantial amounts on fighting claims—money that would be far better spent on improving front-line facilities and services. They are much more desirable activities, if I may say so. I hope that Hansard will recall that there was laughter from the Minister then.