Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the MedCo Portal in tracking whiplash claims.
The MedCo IT portal became operational in April 2015, its purpose being to enhance the independence and standards of medical reporting in respect of whiplash claims.
As of 14 March 2016, 503,000 searches resulting in the selection of a Medical Reporting Organisation or an individual medical expert have been made on the MedCo system. These searches have been by authorised users of the system, usually solicitors acting for prospective claimants in whiplash cases. Management information related to these searches is regularly scrutinised by MedCo to identify potential issues.
The impact of the new MedCo system is currently under review and a report detailing the outcomes of this review will be published by the Ministry of Justice in due course.