Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made in contributing to the cross-government strategy on tackling the drivers behind the rising cost of clinical negligence cases; and what assessment he has made of potential legal reforms that can contribute to that strategy.

In 2017 the National Audit Office (NAO) published their report ‘Managing the costs of Clinical Negligence in Trusts’ which challenged the Government to publish a co-ordinated strategy to control the increasing cost of clinical negligence claims.

The Ministry of Justice continues to work jointly with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Treasury, Cabinet Office, NHS Resolution and others, to respond to the challenge from NAO. We are looking at all the drivers of costs and a wide range of options are being considered as part of the strategy to reduce clinical negligence costs.

This is a complex issue and the work is ongoing. The Department of Health and Social Care will bring forward a publication in due course.