Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference his Department's publication entitled Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2022 to 2023, how much the average settlement payment was for a clinical negligence claim in the 2022-23 financial year.

The average settlement of damages is £1.53 million.

The answer has been limited to only those clinical negligence cases reported in the Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2022 to 2023 as having damage payments over £300,000 in 2022 to 2023 where full settlement on damages has been reached. The totality of damage payments has been used should any damage payments have been made in previous financial years.