Public Advocate Bill (HL Bill 19)

1 Establishment

(1) The Lord Chancellor must appoint a person (“the Advocate“) to undertake the
functions set out in this Act.

(2) The Lord Chancellor shall, out of money provided by Parliament, pay the
5expenses of the Advocate and may also pay them such allowances as the
Secretary of State determines.

(3) The Lord Chancellor is under a duty to ensure that there is an efficient and
effective system to support the carrying on of the business of the Advocate.

2 Role

(1) 10The Advocate may undertake the functions set out in section 3 for a particular
event when—

(a) invited to do so by the Lord Chancellor, or

(b) for that event both requirements one and two have been met.

(2) Requirement one is that, in the Advocate’s opinion, an event has occurred
15which has led to large scale loss of life and involved—

(a) serious health and safety issues,

(b) a failure in regulation, or

(c) other events of serious concern.

(3) In reaching an opinion under subsection (2), the Advocate will have regard to
20previous decisions of the Advocate.

(4) Requirement two is that the Advocate has been asked to undertake their
functions by fifty per cent plus one or more of the total of—

(a) representatives of those deceased due to the event, and

(b) any injured survivors of the event.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4)(a), each person who is deceased due to the
event shall have one representative who will be the first qualifying person of
5legal age from—

(a) a husband, wife or civil partner from a marriage or partnership that
was in existence at the time of the event;

(b) a child;

(c) a grandchild;

(d) 10a parent;

(e) a sibling;

(f) a half-sibling;

(g) a grandparent;

(h) a niece or nephew;

(i) 15a half-aunt or half-uncle;

(j) a cohabitant with the deceased;

(k) the executor of the deceased‘s last will and testament; or

(l) in the event that no qualifying person higher in this list can be traced
and the deceased has died intestate, the Advocate themselves or any
20person with a verifiable relationship with the deceased that the
Advocate may appoint on application for them to do so.

(6) In subsection (5)—

(a) if there is more than one qualifying person in any of categories (5)(a),
(b), (c) or (e) then the elder person of legal age within that category will
25be the first qualifying person; and

(b) if a parent is the first qualifying person and is legally separated from
the other parent of the deceased, both may choose jointly to represent
the deceased.

(7) The first qualifying person under subsection (5) may assign another qualifying
30person as their representative.

(8) For the purposes of subsection (2), the large scale loss of life need not occur due
to one single incident and the Advocate may choose to classify a series of
deaths over a period of time as a large scale loss of life.

(9) For the purposes of subsection (4)(b), an injured person is one who has been
35admitted to hospital as a result of the event.

3 Functions

(1) The functions of the Advocate are as follows.

(2) The Advocate shall report to the representatives under section 2(5) during any
police or other authority‘s investigation into the disaster regarding the
40progress of the investigation, and how the representatives can assist with it,
including, if there are no lawyers representing the families, the implications of
engaging lawyers at that stage.

(3) Should any person listed in section 2(5) request it, the Advocate must make any
reports they have provided under subsection (2) to the representatives or legal
45representatives available to all qualifying persons listed in section 2(5).

(4) Following a further request to the Advocate by fifty percent plus one or more
of the representatives of those deceased due to the event, the Advocate shall set
up a panel (the “Advocate‘s Panel“) which shall register as a data controller
under the Data Protection Act 1998 and review all documentation relating to
5the event, the deceased and the representatives and report thereon.

(5) In establishing the Advocate‘s Panel under subsection (4), the Advocate must
consult the representatives of those deceased due to the event about the
composition of the Panel.

(6) Subject to section 4, all relevant public authorities and other relevant
10organisations must provide documentation under subsection (4) to an
Advocate‘s Panel on request from the Panel.

(7) An Advocate’s Panel shall publish a report into its review of the
documentation.

(8) The Advocate shall not chair an Advocate‘s Panel but will be a member, along
15with further members and a chairman that the Advocate sees fit to appoint.

(9) n this section, any reference to a representative shall mean all persons meeting
the requirements of section 2(4), including those who have not asked the
representative to undertake these functions.

4 Disclosure of information to an Advocate’s Panel

(1) 20Nothing in this section should detract from the duty upon relevant public
authorities to provide relevant information to an Advocate‘s Panel on request
from the Panel.

(2) In this Act—

• “relevant information” shall include all information which may
  25reasonably be considered to be related to the cause of the event, the
  event, and actions taken after the event due to it;

• “public authority” shall have the same meaning as in the Freedom of
  Information Act 2000.

(3) A public authority may only decline to provide information to the Advocate‘s
30Panel if disclosure of that information to the Panel—

(a) is not possible for the purpose of safeguarding national security;

(b) would, or would be likely to, prejudice the defence of the British Islands
or of any colony, or the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed
forces of the Crown;

(c) 35is prohibited by or under any enactment, is incompatible with any EU
obligation, or would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court;
or

(d) would, or would be likely to, prejudice a Police investigation as to
whether any person has failed to comply with the law.

(4) 40A public authority may request that the Advocate‘s Panel provides an
assurance that information provided to the Panel will be secured to the same
data security standard used by that authority, and the Panel may provide such
assurance and shall use its best endeavours to maintain that standard.

(5) If information is withheld from the Advocate‘s Panel under subsection (3), the
45Panel must be informed of the subject of the matter being withheld and the
reason for that exemption.

(6) Upon receiving a notification that information is being withheld, the Panel
may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision whether the public
authority has assessed correctly that disclosure is not possible under
subsection (3).

(7) 5Upon receiving an application from an Advocate‘s Panel under subsection (6),
the Information Commissioner shall consider the application and issue a
decision notice to the Panel and to the relevant public authority stating either—

(a) that the public authority has correctly assessed that the information
should be withheld; or

(b) 10that all or some of the information should not be withheld, the steps
that the public authority must take to provide the information and the
period within which they must be taken.

(8) A decision notice issued by the Information Commissioner under subsection
(7) may be appealed by the Advocate‘s Panel or the relevant public authority
15to the Tribunal.

(9) If on an appeal under subsection (8) the Tribunal considers—

(a) that the notice against which the appeal is brought is not in accordance
with the law, or

(b) to the extent that the notice involved an exercise of discretion by the
20Commissioner, that he or she ought to have exercised his or her
discretion differently,

the Tribunal shall allow the appeal or substitute such other notice as could
have been served by the Commissioner; and in any other case the Tribunal
shall dismiss the appeal.

(10) 25On such an appeal, the Tribunal—

(a) may review any finding of fact on which the notice in question was
based; and

(b) shall notify the Lord Chancellor of its decision.

(11) An Advocate‘s Panel and any office or officials supporting the work of the
30Advocate are not a public authority for the purpose of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

(12) The provisions of Schedule 6 to the Data Protection Act 1998 have effect (so far
as applicable) in relation to appeals under this section.

(13) In this section, “Tribunal” has the meaning given by section 84 of the Freedom
35of Information Act 2000.

5 Report

The Advocate shall send to the Lord Chancellor a report—

(a) on an annual basis, summarising their work;

(b) at the conclusion of support relating to a particular event; and

(c) 40at any other time they identify a need so to do;

and the Lord Chancellor shall lay before Parliament a copy of any reports
received from the Advocate within 15 days of their receipt.

6 Extent, commencement and short title

(1) This Acts extends to England and Wales.

(2) This Act comes into force on the day on which it is passed and shall apply to
events occuring on that day and thereafter.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Public Advocate Act 2014.