Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of clinical negligence cases that appeared in court in the 2019/20 financial year resulted in the NHS paying damages.
Answered by Lord Bethell
In many of the small proportion of cases that go to court, the relevant National Health Service body will have already admitted liability, but are contesting claims for excessive fees or damages. In 2019/20, less than 1% of claims proceeded to trial and in 75% of those cases, NHS Resolution achieved a judgement in favour of the NHS.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce conditional fee arrangements for defence lawyers in clinical negligence cases; and what assessment they have made of the impact such action would have in terms of (1) cost savings, and (2) parity between parties.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS Resolution has no plans to introduce conditional fee arrangements for defence lawyers in clinical negligence cases.
NHS Resolution negotiates large-scale contracts for defendant legal services, using its position as a bulk purchaser to obtain the best expertise, including support for NHS Resolution’s work to learn from claims to improve safety, at value for money for the National Health Service. The contracts include fixed and capped fee arrangements and competitive hourly rates. NHS Resolution monitors and measures its lawyers’ performance through Key Performance Indicators and management information.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost to the NHS in (1) legal fees, and (2) negligence costs, in each of the last two years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The following table shows total payments for the financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20 for all of NHS Resolution’s clinical and non-clinical negligence schemes.
| 2019/20 | 2018/19 |
Clinical spend | £ million | £ million |
Damages paid to claimants | 1,683.2 | 1,778.0 |
Claimant legal costs | 497.5 | 442.3 |
NHS legal costs | 143.5 | 139.6 |
Total | 2,324.3 | 2,359.9 |
Non-clinical spend | £ million | £ million |
Damages paid to claimants | 30.0 | 37.4 |
Claimant legal costs | 18.1 | 17.8 |
NHS legal costs | 7.4 | 6.6 |
Total Non-Clinical | 55.5 | 61.8 |
Total of all spend | 2,379.7 | 2,421.7 |
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 17 July (HL6182), what is their expected timeframe for introducing the necessary legislation to extend the mandatory display of ratings to England.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We will consider whether mandatory display of ratings should be introduced in England in due course.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children in England were admitted to hospital with malnutrition in the first six months of 2020.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of takeaway businesses and restaurants with low food hygiene ratings which do not display those ratings.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Food businesses covered by the scheme, including takeaways and restaurants as well as other places people eat or buy food, are provided with stickers showing their rating. Those in Wales and Northern Ireland are required by law to display the stickers at their premises, while those in England are encouraged to do so.
The FSA monitors the display of ratings through an annual survey. The latest survey, conducted in late 2019, found that for businesses with poor ratings (0, 1 or 2) 26% in England, 83% in Wales and 100% in Northern Ireland displayed the sticker at their premises.
The FSA considers that mandatory display of ratings should extend to England and has put together an evidence-based case for the necessary legislation. This is currently being considered.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need to make the display of food hygiene ratings compulsory.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Food businesses covered by the scheme, including takeaways and restaurants as well as other places people eat or buy food, are provided with stickers showing their rating. Those in Wales and Northern Ireland are required by law to display the stickers at their premises, while those in England are encouraged to do so.
The FSA monitors the display of ratings through an annual survey. The latest survey, conducted in late 2019, found that for businesses with poor ratings (0, 1 or 2) 26% in England, 83% in Wales and 100% in Northern Ireland displayed the sticker at their premises.
The FSA considers that mandatory display of ratings should extend to England and has put together an evidence-based case for the necessary legislation. This is currently being considered.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many members of NHS staff provided fraudulent qualifications between 2017 and 2019.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Data on the number of cases of staff providing fraudulent qualifications detected in the National Health Service over the last three years is collected by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority. The information requested is shown in the following table.
Financial year | Number of cases |
2017-18 | 12 |
2018-19 | 9 |
2019-20 | 4 |