Labour MP Sadiq Khan yesterday called the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill “embarrassing and pathetic”, describing it as something akin to “The Thick of It”, as MPs debated its second reading in the House of Commons.
The Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill, or Sarah Bill, aims to encourage volunteering and involvement in social action by reassuring volunteers that “the court will consider the context of their actions in the event that they are sued for negligence or breach of statutory duty”.
At yesterday’s second reading Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary and MP for Tooting, argued that the premise of the bill is “built on sand”.
He said that although we do not want to live in a country where there are unnecessary barriers to people who want to help out, there are no concrete examples of where this has actually happened.
Khan argued that, in contrast to a statistic offered by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling which claimed a 30 per cent increase in three years in personal injury claims, the Ministry of Justice had confirmed that the number of civil cases is in fact going down.
He also said that there is “no great health and safety beast suffocating the life out of those doing good deeds, petrified into inaction at the prospect of having to fork out compensation after being sued”.
Khan added that even if there was, the bill “provides no real substantive solutions anyway”.
Following the announcement of the legislation, the NCVO polled over 500 of its members to gauge their experiences. It found that only 1 per cent of respondents had been subject to a legal claim in the last two years, suggesting the “problem is more one of perception than reality”.
NCVO briefing
In NCVO’s briefing on the Sarah Bill it said: “NCVO does not expect this Bill to significantly alter the current law, with similar provisions already made in the Compensation Act 2006.
“Instead we see its purpose as to influence behaviour by sending a message to the courts that they should take into account the motivation behind the action when deciding on negligence claims.”
Grayling quoted Justin Davis Smith, executive director of volunteering and development at NCVO who, when the bill was announced, said that there is a “a great concern about risk…anything that can be done to break down barriers to people getting involved in their communities is very welcome.”
Grayling added that it is for “those people that we are sending one of the signposts in this bill”.
In defence of the bill, Grayling said: “I believe that the bill strikes a fair, proportionate and sensible balance that will provide a clear and valuable reassurance to counter the fears that are proving such a deterrent, putting people off volunteering, and that cause anxiety to small businesses, which worry that they might end up at the wrong end of litigation, while ensuring at the same time that those who are genuinely injured through negligence or who suffer wrongs are not prevented from obtaining redress where appropriate.”
Nick Hurd MP, who stood down as minister for civil society last week, supported the bill saying that although volunteering is on the rise, “there is so much potential to do more, but far too many people are put off by the risk of being sued, and this bill aims to create a greater sense of reassurance on that fundamental point”.
Khan’s speech, which also described the Bill as “a turkey of a bill, a vacuous bill” was criticised by Conservative MP for Harborough, Sir Edward Garnier, for being a “snide and unnecessarily cheap speech”.
The bill will be now considered by a Public Bill Committee.
