Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
64th Report - Costs of clinical negligence
Published 30 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Costs of clinical negligence All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
In 2024, the Health Services Safety Investigations Body reported that the broader health system was drowning in patient safety recommendations rather than taking affirmative actions to improve it.26 NHS England told us that there are over 1,500 recommendations in the system and that managing those centrally is a huge task. NHS England told us that the new National Quality Board will look at how the NHS can access stronger, smarter recommendations.27 19 Qq 35-36 20 Q 38 21 C&AG’s Report, para 16 22 Switalskis Solicitors (CCN0014); Action against Medical Accidents (CCN0018); Slater & Gordon (CCN0023) 23 Q 83 24 Q 78 25 Q 99 26 C&AG’s Report, para 1.4 27 Q 80 12 Learning from available data
From: Public Accounts Committee, 64th Report - Costs of clinical negligence (HC 1234), 30 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 April 2026 (deadline 30 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee's recommendation to set out an operational plan on clinical negligence, disagrees with others, and has some recommendations "under consideration".
- It agrees to write to the Committee "by this Autumn" with its workplan, key milestones and likely areas of focus for reform, but "disagrees" with publishing David Lock KC's review, saying it has "no current plans" to publish a separate report.
- It "disagrees" with estimating and tracking the costs of treating avoidable harm, stating it "would not be financially or logistically feasible", and "disagrees" with a new national data-sharing system, saying "there is already data sharing arrangements in place".
- On maternity, it agrees with the recommendation to learn lessons. Baroness Amos has confirmed the independent investigation will publish its final report in June 2026, and a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will develop a national action plan.
- Alternative dispute mechanisms and fixed recoverable costs are "under consideration", and the government is "unable to commit" to the six-month timeframe for double recovery estimates. It will write to the Committee by Autumn 2026 on each.