---

NHS Redress Bill [HL]

My Lords, it is often a very simple matter to deduce why the Commons has rejected amendments passed in this House, but I am puzzled about this one because surely it is unarguable that no verdict can be seen as just if those reaching it are biased or clearly linked with one side of a case. I listened most carefully to what the Minister said. I am bound to say that I am still just as puzzled as I was at the beginning because none of the points that he made alters those facts. A decision made by people who are biased will be rejected by those on whom that decision must rest. The Minister says that they can always go to the ombudsman, but is that the best way to look at it? Do we say that our courts need not have unbiased judges and unbiased juries because the matter can always be taken further? Surely not. In this case we are dealing with people who deserve justice and deserve to see that justice is being done. The Minister pleaded the case that the cost would be too high. Is it too expensive to have justice? Is it too expensive to ensure that decisions made in this land of ours are reached fairly and justly? I think not. I have argued for years that natural justice is not served when suspended hospital doctors are judged by those who suspended them. No judge in any court would have his judgment accepted if he were known to be very much on the side of those to whom he awarded a favourable verdict. Even the chairman of the most modest and humble committee is expected to be impartial. Surely investigation must be not only open and conducted solely on facts but clearly seen to be exactly that. Do the Government not recognise that deep resentment will be caused in doctors and patients if this un-British amendment of the other place goes through? Is the Minister impressed—I hope that he is—by the fact that noble Lords on all sides of this House are begging him to accept that we need to have a just conclusion to these matters? Is the Minister not moved by the fact that many people outside this place have written to us about this matter, as the noble Baroness has just pointed out? I have received letters and I have no doubt that other Members of this House have received them as well. I felt so strongly about this that I was determined to make a small speech. It is such a basic point of justice that I could not keep silent.