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Compensation Bill [HL]

I am very happy to concur with what the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, has just said. It is a matter of great importance that the regulator should bear in mind that the issue with which we are dealing is a problem that faces this country. The problem is not yet on the scale that it is in the USA, where features are very different. There, one particularly notable feature is that the question of whether a claimant should receive damages and, if so, what amount those damages should be, is—at any rate, at the first instance—decided by a jury. Juries tend to take the view that if an insurance company is involved, the insurance company should pay up, whatever the facts of the case. I certainly remember stories of doctors driving around in cars with stickers on the back bumper saying, ““Feeling ill? Call your lawyer””. There is no doubt that excessive compensation in the USA has got to the stage where it causes damage to the economy as a whole and, in particular, is a cause of excessive expense and limited availability of medical assistance. I believe that the regulator should consider the adverse effect caused by over-enthusiastic claiming. Therefore, I wait with interest to hear what the noble Baroness has to say in response.