Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Hayward Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hayward (Con)]

My Lords, I first draw attention to my entry in the register of interests and my involvement with Dignity in Dying.

What is striking about this debate is the variation in the conclusions that people have come to from similar experiences. My noble friend Lord Herbert spoke just now. I regard him as a personal friend and we have faced many similar difficulties in society over the years, but I have come to a completely different conclusion.

The reason I have come to that conclusion is twofold. One is that, aged 35, I sat across a desk from a doctor who told me that I had multiple sclerosis, but that the probability was that in my case I would deteriorate very slowly. The fact that I am stood here now is probably proof that the diagnosis was accurate.

Secondly, the argument is put forward that we are crossing a threshold. But the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, identified very clearly that he believed that one of his own parents had faced this problem and that the doctor had taken a decision. I believe that in the case of my father the doctor took exactly the same decision; we were told when my father would die and, surprisingly enough, he did. I have sympathy not for myself in my case but for the doctors and nurses in palliative care homes who take terribly difficult decisions on an ongoing basis. I think that for them, if many of them are honest, those decisions are taken, tragically, on a fairly regular basis.

The only other comment that I wish to add in relation to this debate, because so much has been said about very different circumstances, is that the one argument that I find difficult to accept is the “slippery slope” argument. We in this and the other Chamber have the power to decide what is or is not the law. The suggestion is that if one passes this piece of legislation, in several years’ time something else might happen. It is only in this case that I can recall the argument of the slippery slope being put forward in the six years that I have been in this House. We are debating this piece of legislation, and the potential to amend this piece of legislation. I support it. I hope it will be given full consideration and approved in this House, and passed to the other House at a later stage.

Serious Criminal Cases Backlog

Lord Hayward Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness raises an important point. This Government have taken a number of steps to ensure that vulnerable witnesses can give evidence in that way. Indeed, noble Lords will be aware of provisions that build on that in the Domestic Abuse Bill, which is going through Parliament at the moment. To take that point further would, I think, require more careful consideration, but I would be very happy to discuss that with the noble Baroness in due course.

[Lord Hayward (Con)]

My Lords, will my noble friend and the Government please understand the toll that unacceptable delays in the criminal justice system takes on even provenly innocent individuals? I know from personal experience that delays in both the trials and sentencing of those who make false accusations can drive people to consider suicide. Sadly, I know of other cases where individuals did take their lives.

[Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord is of course correct that delays in the criminal justice system can affect not only the defendant but others involved, including victims and witnesses. The listing of cases is ultimately a matter for the judiciary, not the Executive, so I am limited in what I can say. However, I can confirm, for example, that at the moment the majority of cases where a defendant is in custody have been listed for trial before July 2021.

Insurance Industry: Whiplash

Lord Hayward Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2016 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Hayward]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to meet representatives of the insurance industry to discuss their treatment of claims for whiplash injuries.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Faulks) (Con)]

My Lords, meetings have been held with representatives’ groups from both claimant and insurer sectors at both ministerial and official level to discuss the reforms announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. Ministers and officials are continuing to engage with interested stakeholders as work on the detail of the Government’s whiplash reform programme develops.

[Lord Hayward (Con)]

When my noble friend next meets representatives of the industry, will he ask them to explain cases such as that of Mr John Elvin of Watford? Mr Elvin was involved in a negligible traffic incident where there was no apparent damage to either vehicle. At the first opportunity, he notified his insurers—esure—that he was subject to what he believed was going to be a false whiplash and damage claim. Despite a series of requests, esure has given no indication that it has investigated this case in any way. Is this not an example of the reason why the industry is known in this country as “the whiplash capital of the world”? It is the consumer who ultimately pays for this cavalier attitude.

[Lord Faulks]

My noble friend is quite right to draw the House’s attention to the very major problem of the significant increase in the number of claims and our large number of claims in comparison with other European countries. One of the reasons that insurers give for settling these claims is that it costs them too much to fight the case. Of course, if our plans to raise the small claims limit to £5,000 come into effect, this will no longer continue to be a valid reason for not contesting claims. Anyone who is notified of what sounds suspiciously like a fraud should not do anything to encourage it. If individuals are invited to take part in such an endeavour, they are potentially committing a criminal offence.