Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the data provided in NHS Resolution's response to Freedom of Information request 5115 of August 2021 which showed that claimant and defence solicitor fees in cases relating to vaginal mesh implants significantly exceeded the settlement reached, what cost benefit assessment he has made of the potential merits of a financial redress scheme for women affected by vaginal mesh implants.

We published our response to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review on 21 July 2021. In this response, the Government did not accept the recommendation to establish separate redress schemes for the three interventions discussed in the report. While the Government is sympathetic to the experiences of those patients who gave evidence to the report, our primary focus is on improving future medicines and medical devices safety. We considered the costs of redress and the existing settlement costs for claims. It is crucial that we focus funds on initiatives that directly improve future safety and we are pursuing this aim.