asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of out of court settlements, and the amounts paid, by each regional health authority for claims against each authority in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available.
The information held centrally does not distinguish between out of court settlements and those resulting from court decisions. The table shows the number of cases in which compensation payments were made by the health authorities in each region as a result of court decisions, legal advice or out of court settlements, and the total of the payments, as recorded in authorities' annual accounts.
Region
| 1981–82
| 1982–83
| 1983–84
| 1984–85*
| ||||
Number of cases
| Payments £
| Number of cases
| Payments £
| Number of cases
| Payments £
| Number of cases
| Payments £
| |
| Boards of governors/SHAs | 10 | 4,582 | 16 | 47,408 | 8 | 58,639 | 23 | 156,776 |
| Grand total | 2,791 | 3,437,363 | 2,990 | 3,569,019 | 3,266 | 4,839,175 | 3,393 | 5,058,590 |
| * Provisional figures. | ||||||||