A message from Julian Brazier TD MP, with Lembit Opik and Derek Wyatt, Co-Chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Adventure -'ARISc':

Dear All,

I suddenly realised that I had not yet sent round a final brief on the Compensation Bill. We did not get any further concessions in the Commons but the Government did confirm on the record in Hansard that it would expect the court to take Clause 1 into account in all the sorts of circumstances we are concerned about.
That means that Hansard can be used as a "second best" alternative to "shall" replacing "may". The Minister also gave us the legal advice that Clause 2 would exempt actual help, as well as offers of help, from automatically becoming an admission of liability. Obviously the proof of the pudding will be in the eating and we will have to see how the courts deal with all this but I think we can pat ourselves on the back that the All-Party group made a difference, especially both in helping to generate pressure for the bill and with the material we sent to the House of Lords. Best wishes for the summer
Julian

Addendum: I have just discovered that the compensation bill received royal assent on the last day of term. The first 3 clauses (1 and 2 are the ones which interest us) came into immediate effect.
J.