The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Maria Caulfield)
It is normal practice, when a Government Department proposes to undertake a contingent liability in excess of £300,000 for which there is no specific statutory authority, for the Minister concerned to present a departmental minute to Parliament giving particulars of the liability created and explaining the circumstances; and to refrain from incurring the liability until 14 sitting days after the issue of the minute, except in cases of special urgency.
I have today laid a departmental minute proposing to provide an indemnity that is required urgently in respect of a Department of Health and Social Care established non-statutory, independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the offences committed by David Fuller (DF) at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, and their national implications.
The inquiry will be split into two phases:
an initial report, on matters relating to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, reporting by the middle of 2022, and
a final report, looking at the broader national picture and the wider lessons for the NHS and for other settings, reporting by the middle of 2023.
It will review DF’s unlawful actions, how he was able to carry these out, why his actions went apparently unnoticed, and will make recommendations with the aim of preventing anything similar from happening again. We expect the inquiry to publish a progress update as soon as possible after Easter recess.
In November 2021, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the inquiry (Official Report, 8 November 2021, volume 703, column 23) to be chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael. The Department of Health and Social Care will indemnify the inquiry insofar as the chair or any other member of the inquiry who has acted honestly and in good faith will not have to meet out of his or her personal resources any personal civil liability, including costs, which is incurred in the execution or the purported execution of his or her inquiry functions, save where the inquiry member has acted recklessly. This indemnity will cover the entire duration of the inquiry’s work, from November 2021 until when the inquiry submits its final report, expected in 2023, and for an unlimited period after that date. However, we believe there is a low risk of the indemnity being called upon beyond five years of the inquiry having reported. There will be no cap placed upon the indemnity, so the maximum exposure is strictly unlimited. However, any losses are not expected to exceed a value of £3 million based upon the best estimate currently available at this stage of the inquiry’s work. If the liability is called, provision for any payment will be sought through the normal supply procedure.
The Treasury has approved the proposal in principle which mirrors the standard indemnity for board members described in “Managing Public Money”. If, during the period of 14 parliamentary sitting days beginning on the date on which this minute was laid before Parliament, a Member signifies an objection by giving notice of a parliamentary question or by otherwise raising the matter in Parliament, final approval to proceed with incurring the liability will be withheld pending an examination of the objection. The indemnity is expected to come into force on 26 April 2022, subject to the approval of Parliament on this basis.
Copies of the departmental minute have been laid in both Houses.
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