Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to ensuring that NHS collective insurance cover can be extended to provide cover for when clinical services are commissioned by local authorities.

When local authorities commission clinical services through the National Health Service, any liability arising from clinical negligence is covered by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST), where the service is provided by an NHS trust, and the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP), where the service is delivered by general practices under NHS contracts, namely the Personal Medical Services contract, the Additional Medical Services contract, and/or the General Medical Services contract. CNST and CNSGP are state indemnity schemes administered by NHS Resolution.

There are currently no plans to extend the scope of CNST or CNSGP to cover other clinical services commissioned by local authorities.