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Human Rights

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right; unfortunately, that is often a refuge for the incompetent. Let me say in parentheses that in my experience far too often public bodies—public authorities—settle out of court on terms that are hugely disadvantageous to the public purse and to public polity simply to avoid going to court. They are wrong to do so. Thinking back again to my experiences as chairman of a police authority, they were wrong to do so. The chief constable often settled out of court on a complaint, and I would say to him, ““Why on earth didn’t you take it to court? This is a preposterous case.”” The reply would be, ““Well, better safe than sorry; it might have cost us more.”” That was not a proper solution, but, as a police authority chairman, I had no authority to prevent that from happening.