Francis Inquiry (Costs)

Jeremy Hunt Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2013 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

Robert Francis QC published his “Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry” on 6 February 2013. The public inquiry report looked at the roles and responsibilities of the wider health system in the events at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009. The inquiry itself sat for a total of 139 days; its oral hearings began on 8 November 2010 in Stafford and concluded on 1 December 2011. The inquiry took 352 separate witness statements in total, with 164 witness statements heard in person.

On the day of publication, the Prime Minister made a statement to Parliament. The Department of Health published the initial Government and system-wide response. “Patients First and Foremost”, on 26 March 2013. A further response to Robert Francis’s report will be published in autumn 2013.

Officials have compiled the costs of providing evidence to the inquiry incurred by the Department and the relevant NHS organisations, including foundation trusts.

I can now report to the House that the expenditure incurred by the Department and NHS organisations in their role as witnesses amounted to £6 million. A breakdown by type of cost is shown below.