Read our Privacy noticeThe government and NHS England have been sharply criticised by MPs for their failure to take "any meaningful steps" to slash the rising costs of clinical negligence in England, despite two decades of warnings. Its new report highlighted that while the committee and its predecessors "have examined the issue of clinical negligence many times", the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) "cannot provide reassurance that it has taken any meaningful action to address clinical negligence to date". Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the PAC, said: “Clinical negligence is the second-largest financial liability across government, but represents to our committee a different matter entirely from other large items like nuclear decommissioning or pensions. It is also seeking a plan from the Government to tackle clinical negligence, a national framework to improve patient safety with clear annual targets, and a national system for sharing data between NHS trusts. Sir Geoffrey said: “Whatever happens next, government has been in unacceptable stasis on the issue of clinical negligence for the majority of my political life, as numbers have continued to creep up.