Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 197990 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus, how many data subject access requests have been submitted for the 1,784 Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme claims which have been outstanding for over three months; and of those, how many data subject access requests have been outstanding for more than (a) six months, (b) three months and (c) one month.

As of 1 September, of the 1,784 COVID-19 related claims that have been waiting for the provision of medical records for over three months, 314 claims have had subject access requests (SARs) submitted, with a total of 492 SARs between them. Claims usually have an average of two to three healthcare providers listed on their claim form, which results in multiple SARs being submitted for one claim. 1,470 claims have not had any SARs submitted. Due to previous SARs not receiving the desired outcome, steps are being taken to identify other avenues to engage with healthcare providers to gather medical records as quickly as possible and improve processing times.

Of the 492 SARs submitted, 62 (12%) have been outstanding more than six months, 276 (56%) have been outstanding more than three months, 280 (57%) have been outstanding more than one month, and two have been outstanding for less than a month. 210 (43%) of these SARs have resulted in the records being received.