Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of current NHS complaints procedures in cases where bereaved families have waited more than nine months for a final response from a trust, and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of introducing maximum response times for complaint investigations.

The Department does not collect data relating to National Health Service complaints. Data on NHS written complaints is published by NHS England annually at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/data-on-written-complaints-in-the-nhs

The 10-Year Health Plan confirmed our intention to reform the NHS complaints process, setting clear standards for both the timeliness and quality of responses, to ensure the NHS listens carefully and compassionately, taking forward learnings to improve the quality of care.