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NHS Redress Bill [HL]

Amendments Nos. 62, 63 and 65 seek to clarify that disclosure to the scheme authority under Clause 12 applies only to disclosure,"““by a body or other person to whose liability the scheme applies””," or,"““by a scheme member””." Clause 12 currently provides that no rule of commons law shall prohibit or restrict disclosure of information to the scheme authority if the disclosure is made in pursuance of a requirement imposed by or under the scheme. Clause 10(2)(f) specifically provides that the scheme may require or enable the scheme authority to require, members of the scheme to provide the authority with information or documents relevant to its functions. As the requirements imposed under the scheme to disclose documents will therefore be imposed only on the scheme members, I consider the amendment to be unnecessary. Amendment No. 64 would insert a new subsection into Clause 12, requiring that any disclosure to the scheme authority under subsection (1) shall not prevent the application of the common law rules of privilege between the applicant and the scheme. It is certainly not intended that applicants under the scheme should have to disclose documents to the scheme. Under Clause 12 it is only the scheme member that will be required to disclose specified information to the scheme authority as required by the scheme.