Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Regarding the provision for clinical negligence, the WGA shows a levelling off of new cases...
Conclusion
Regarding the provision for clinical negligence, the WGA shows a levelling off of new cases and explains that in the second year of its new strategy to tackle clinical negligence laid out in April 2017, NHS Resolution mediated 380 cases, or 110% more than the previous year.20 We asked the Treasury what progress was being made to control the liability. The Treasury responded that clinical negligence had been picked up by the balance sheet review and that the lead for this area was the Department for Health and Social Care, working with a cross-government taskforce that involved the Treasury.21 Analysis and scenario planning
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
3.3 The Balance Sheet Review, which concluded in November 2020, aimed to strengthen control of long-term risks and the costs of liabilities, to identify opportunities to dispose of assets that no longer serve a policy purpose and improve returns on retained assets. The government has put in place a number of further actions to strengthen risk management in line with its recommendations including improving the identification and mitigation of balance sheet risks and improving capability to understand and manage balance sheet risk in a strategic way. Future WGAs will continue to report on these developments in balance sheet management and set out how they support the management of risks to financial sustainability. WGA 2019-20 will also provide more information on how the key liabilities in the account are managed, how they have evolved over time, and how value for money is achieved in discharging these obligations. It will also draw on information produced by the OBR on wider spending projections, to place the accounting liabilities in a broader context.