Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to increase the small claims track threshold for clinical negligence cases in medical and dental practice.

The Government announced on 23 February 2017 that it intends to increase the small claims track limit for personal injury claims from £1,000 to £5,000 for road traffic accident related claims, and to £2,000 for all other personal injury claims (including clinical negligence). These reforms will be taken forward through secondary legislation.

These planned increases are part of a package of reforms, other elements of which will be taken forward in the Civil Liability Bill which the Government announced in the Queen’s Speech. Details of these reforms were set out in the Government’s response to the ‘Reforming the Soft Tissue Injury (‘whiplash’) Claims Process consultation - https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/reforming-soft-tissue-injury-claims.