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NHS Redress Bill [HL]

Amendments Nos. 36 and 38, as the noble Baroness said, are similarly worded. They would have the effect of placing explicitly in the Bill the need for settlement agreements in respect of a child or incapacitated adult to be subject to the approval of a court of law. The amendments are not necessary because Clause 6(2)(e) enables the scheme to make provision for settlement agreements under the scheme to be subject in cases of a specified description to approval by a court. It is clearly our intention—I assure the Committee—that the scheme will specify that awards made to children and the mentally incapacitated will require approval by the court to ensure that accepting the offer is in the patient’s best interests.