Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what training medical assessors of applications to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to covid-19 vaccinations receive; what qualifications are needed to become such an assessor; what continuing professional development requirements must such assessors meet; whether such assessors are required to work in-person and not remotely; and to what supervision are such assessors subject.

Medical assessments are carried out by an independent, third-party supplier. The supplier manages the medical assessors' training and work arrangements, organises for each medical assessment to be peer reviewed by another medical assessor, and is responsible for ensuring that medical assessors continue their professional development.

All medical assessors are General Medical Council (GMC) registered doctors with a license to practise and a minimum of five years' post graduate experience. They are held to strict professional standards set by the GMC and, in addition to their five years’ post graduate experience, assessors must have experience of undertaking a medical and/or disability assessment, and of addressing questions of causation and impact in the context of legislative or policy requirements.