Public Advocate Bill [HL]

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 must, out of money provided by Parliament, pay the
expenses of the Advocate and may also pay them such allowances as the
Secretary of State determines.

(3)

The Lord Chancellor must ensure that there is an efficient and effective system
to support the carrying on of the business of the Advocate.

2 Role

(1)

The 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
which 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 must have regard
to previous 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 legal 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)

a parent;

(e)

a sibling;

(f)

a half-sibling;

(g)

a grandparent;

(h)

a niece or nephew;

(i)

an aunt or uncle;

(j)

a cohabitant of 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
person 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 be 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
person 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
admitted to hospital as a result of the event.

3 Functions

(1)

The functions of the Advocate are as follows.

(2)

The Advocate must report to the representatives under section 2 (5) during
any police or other authority’s investigation into the major incident regarding
the progress 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 representatives 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 must
set up a panel (the “Advocate’s Panel”) which must review all documentation
relating to the 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
organisations must provide documentation under subsection (4) to an
Advocate’s Panel on request from the Panel.

(7)

An Advocate’s Panel must publish a report into its review of the
documentation.

(8)

The Advocate may not chair an Advocate’s Panel but will be a member, along
with further members and a person whom the Advocate sees fit to appoint
to chair the panel.

(9)

In 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
Advocate to undertake these functions.

4 Disclosure of information to an Advocate’s Panel

(1)

Nothing in this section detracts 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” includes all information which may reasonably
be considered to be related to the cause of the event, the event, and
actions taken after the event due to it;

“
public authority” has 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
Panel if disclosure of that information to the Panel—

(a)

is not possible for reasons of safeguarding national security;

(b)

would, or would be likely to, prejudice the defence of the United
Kingdom or of any Crown dependency or overseas territory, or the
capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces of the Crown;

(c)

is 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)

A 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 as used by that authority, and the Panel may provide
such assurance and use its best endeavours to maintain that standard.

(5)

If information is withheld from the Advocate’s Panel under subsection (3)
, the Panel 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)

Upon receiving an application from an Advocate’s Panel under subsection
(6) , the Information Commissioner must 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)

that 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
to 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
Commissioner, 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)

On 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
Advocate are not a public authority for the purpose of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

(12)

In this section , “Tribunal” has the meaning given by section 84 of the Freedom
of 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)

at any other time they identify a need so to do;

and the Lord Chancellor must 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 only.

(2)

This Act comes into force on the day on which it is passed and applies to
events occurring on that day and thereafter.

(3)

This Act may be cited as the Public Advocate Act 2022.