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Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 78:
The noble and learned Lord said: I beg to move Amendment No. 78 formally.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Viscount Allenby of Megiddo): Before calling Amendment No. 79, I should inform the Committee that if this amendment is agreed to I cannot call Amendment No. 80.
Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 79:
The noble and learned Lord said: I beg to move Amendment No. 79 formally.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 81:
The noble and learned Lord said: I beg leave to move Amendment No. 81 formally.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
[Amendments Nos. 82 to 84 not moved.]
Lord Hardie moved Amendments Nos. 85 and 85A:
The noble and learned Lord said: I beg to move these amendments en bloc formally.
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 87:
The noble and learned Lord said: I beg to move Amendment No. 87 formally.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
[Amendments Nos. 88 to 90 not moved.]
Clause 27, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 44 [Child support: cases of error]:
Lord Hardie moved Amendments Nos. 91 to 97:
The noble and learned Lord said: I beg to move Amendments Nos. 91 to 97 en bloc formally.
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 44, as amended, agreed to.
Clauses 29 to 34, 36, 37 and 39 agreed to.
Clause 45 [Vaccine damage payments: decisions superseding earlier decisions]:
Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 98:
The noble and learned Lord said: In moving Amendment No. 98, I wish to speak also, with the leave of the Committee, to Amendments Nos. 99 and 138.
We now come to a group of amendments of a technical nature relating to the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme. As such, I hope noble Lords will allow me to present them as a set rather than take each one individually.
Amendment No. 98 is a minor, technical amendment to Clause 45. Clause 45 inserts a new Section 3A into the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979. In effect, it replaces the current section--Section 5--which deals with reconsideration of the Secretary of State's decision on a claim for a vaccine damage payment and provides for claimants to be notified of decisions. New Section 3A as currently drafted does not contain provision for notifications. This amendment provides a regulation-making provision to deal with the notification of decisions.
Amendment No. 99 is a technical amendment to Clause 46. It allows the Secretary of State to make regulations on the procedures to be followed by appeal tribunals that hear appeals against vaccine damage payments decisions. Clause 46 replaces Section 4 of the Vaccine Damage Payments Act. That section includes provision for regulations to be made for the procedure
The final amendment is Amendment No. 138. The principle of finality is fundamental to the system of decision-making. A vaccine damage payments decision, once made, should be binding both on the department and on the claimant until it is reversed or changed on appeal. This amendment to Schedule 6 ensures that decisions made by the Secretary of State will be final until reversed under Clause 45 or changed on appeal under Clause 46. This ensures consistency across the parts of the Bill relating to social security benefits, child support and vaccine damage payments. I commend the amendments to your Lordships. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 45, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 46 [Vaccine damage payments: appeals to appeal tribunals]:
Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 99:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 46, as amended, agreed to.
Clauses 47 to 58 and 60 to 62 agreed to.
Clause 63 [Recovery of contributions etc.]:
On Question, Whether Clause 63 shall stand part of the Bill?
Lord Goodhart: Just by way of comment, I wish to raise the point that distress is an extremely archaic remedy. I think it is time that we restricted it where it does exist or perhaps abolished it altogether rather than extended it. I am sorry to see it in the Bill as an additional remedy for the recovery of the contributions.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham moved Amendment No. 100:
The noble Baroness said: This amendment has already been spoken to. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 67 [Rates of short-term incapacity benefit]:
Page 17, line 34, after ("made") insert ("by the Secretary of State").
Page 17, line 36, leave out from beginning to ("in") in line 37.
Page 17, line 38, leave out ("by the Secretary of State").
Page 17, line 41, leave out ("by the Secretary of State").
Page 17, line 43, at end insert--
("(1A) This section does not apply where the decision of the Secretary of State mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above--
(a) is one which, but for section 25(2) or (3)(a) above, would have been made before the date of the relevant determination; or
(b) is one made in pursuance of section 26(3) or (5) above.").
Page 18, line 14, at end insert--
("( ) It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1) above--
(a) where such a decision as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(i) falls to be made, whether the claim was made before or after the date of the relevant determination;
(b) where such a decision as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(ii) or (iii) falls to be made on an application under section 10 or (as the case may be) 11 above, whether the application was made before or after that date.").
Page 30, line 23, at beginning insert ("Subject to subsection (1A) below,").
Page 30, line 30, after ("made") insert ("by the Secretary of State").
Page 30, line 33, leave out from beginning to ("with") in line 35.
Page 30, line 38, leave out ("by the Secretary of State").
Page 30, line 42, leave out ("by the Secretary of State").
Page 30, line 45, at end insert--
("(1A) This section does not apply where the decision of the Secretary of State mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above--
(a) is one which, but for section 28ZA(2)(a), would have been made before the date of the relevant determination; or
(b) is one made in pursuance of section 28ZB(3) or (5).").
Page 31, line 11, at end insert--
("( ) It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1) above--
(a) where such a decision as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(i) falls to be made; or
(b) where such a decision as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(ii) or (iii) falls to be made on an application under section 16 or (as the case may be) section 17,
whether the application was made before or after the date of the relevant determination.").
Page 32, line 25, at end insert--
("( ) Such notice as may be prescribed by regulations shall be given of a decision under this section.").
Page 32, line 38, at end insert ("and
(b) such provision with respect to proceedings before appeal tribunals as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
( ) The regulations may in particular make any provision of a kind mentioned in Schedule 5 to the Social Security Act 1998.").
After Clause 63, insert the following new clause--
(". After section 121B of the Administration Act there shall be inserted the following sections--
"Liability of directors etc. for company's contributions.
121C.--(1) This section applies to contributions which a body corporate is liable to pay, where--
(a) the body corporate has failed to pay the contributions at or within the time prescribed for the purpose; and
(b) the failure appears to the Secretary of State to be attributable to fraud or neglect on the part of one or more individuals who, at the time of the fraud or neglect, were officers of the body corporate ("culpable officers").
(2) The Secretary of State may issue and serve on any culpable officer a notice (a "personal liability notice")--
(a) specifying the amount of the contributions to which this section applies ("the specified amount"); and
(b) requiring the officer to pay to the Secretary of State--
(i) a specified sum in respect of that amount; and
(ii) specified interest on that sum.
(3) The sum specified in the personal liability notice under subsection (2)(b)(i) above shall be--
(a) in a case where there is, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, no other culpable officer, the whole of the specified amount; and
(b) in any other case, such proportion of the specified amount as, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the officer's culpability for the failure to pay that amount bears to that of all the culpable officers taken together.
(4) In assessing an officer's culpability for the purposes of subsection (3)(b) above, the Secretary of State may have regard both to the gravity of the officer's fraud or neglect and to the consequences of it.
(5) The interest specified in the personal liability notice under subsection (2)(b)(ii) above shall be at the prescribed rate and shall run from the date on which the notice is issued.
(6) An officer who is served with a personal liability notice shall be liable to pay to the Secretary of State the sum and the interest specified in the notice under subsection (2)(b) above.
(7) Where, after the issue of one or more personal liability notices, the amount of contributions to which this section applies is reduced by a payment made by the body corporate--
(a) the amount that each officer who has been served with such a notice is liable to pay under this section shall be reduced accordingly;
(b) the Secretary of State shall serve on each such officer a notice to that effect; and
(c) where the reduced liability of any such officer is less than the amount that he has already paid under this section, the difference shall be repaid to him together with interest on it at the prescribed rate.
(8) Any amount paid under a personal liability notice shall be deducted from the liability of the body corporate in respect of the specified amount.
(9) In this section--
"contributions" includes any interest or penalty in respect of contributions;
"officer", in relation to a body corporate, means--
(a) any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person purporting to act as such; and
(b) in a case where the affairs of the body corporate are managed by its members, any member of the body corporate exercising functions of management with respect to it or purporting to do so;
"the prescribed rate" means the rate from time to time prescribed by regulations under section 178 of the Finance Act 1989 for the purposes of the corresponding provision of Schedule 1 to the Contributions and Benefits Act, that is to say--
(a) in relation to subsection (5) above, paragraph 6(2)(a);
(b) in relation to subsection (7) above, paragraph 6(2)(b).
Appeals in relation to personal liability notices.
121D.--(1) No appeal shall lie in relation to a personal liability notice except as provided by this section.
(2) An individual who is served with a personal liability notice may appeal to an appeal tribunal against the Secretary of State's decision as to the issue and content of the notice on the ground that--
(a) the failure to pay the amount specified under subsection (2)(a) of section 121C above was not attributable to any fraud or neglect on the part of the individual in question;
(b) the individual was not an officer of the body corporate at the time of the alleged fraud or neglect; or
(c) the opinion formed by the Secretary of State under subsection (3)(a) or (b) of that section was unreasonable.
(3) The Secretary of State shall give a copy of any notice of an appeal under this section, within 28 days of the giving of the notice, to each other individual who has been served with a personal liability notice.
(4) Where an appeal under this section--
(a) is brought on the basis of evidence not considered by the Secretary of State, or on the ground mentioned in subsection (2)(c) above; and
(b) is not allowed on some other basis or ground,
the appeal tribunal shall either dismiss the appeal or remit the case to the Secretary of State, with any recommendations it sees fit to make, for him to consider whether to revise his decision as to the issue and content of the personal liability notice.
(5) In this section--
"appeal tribunal" means an appeal tribunal constituted under Chapter I of Part I of the Social Security Act 1998;
"officer", in relation to a body corporate, has the same meaning as in section 121C above;
"personal liability notice" has the meaning given by subsection (2) of that section;
"revise" means revise under section 10 of the Social Security Act 1998."").
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