Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will cap the legal fees paid by the NHS in clinical negligence cases; and if he will make a statement.

This Government believes that it is unacceptable for lawyers to incur costs that are far higher than the amount of any compensation awarded to the patient and want costs to be proportionate. High legal costs in clinical negligence cases divert money away from patient care in the National Health Service. This is why we have recently announced that we will be launching a formal consultation in the autumn with the goal of establishing an appropriate level of fixed costs for lower value clinical negligence claims.