Member

The Under-Secretary of State’s own statistics demonstrate the unreal nature of this approach. From 2016 to 2024, of 133 compensation applicants, only 39 were awarded compensation, at a total cost of £2.4 million. No one reached the £1 million maximum threshold and only five or fewer reached £500,000. We are talking about modest sums for people whose lives have been gravely damaged by the state’s failures. Applicants are not receiving huge sums. Indeed, to increase awards in line with CPI inflation would not pose a risk to public finances, given the small number of claimants who reach the higher levels of compensation payments and the figures I have outlined. Such a change would be a start in reaffirming the underlying trust that our legal system requires to function properly. So I ask the Minister to consider taking this step in future in order to show that society believes that those it has wronged should be fairly compensated: that is, there should be an annual review and, in principle, an uplift in line with inflation based on the CPI index.