According to Admiral Group Plc, the British car insurance company, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed that it is to ban referral fee payments for personal injury claims.
Admiral says it welcomes any moves to put a stop to the personal injury compensation culture that is currently plaguing the car insurance market. Admiral has already said that it does not sell personal details relating to its customers and if a policyholder has an accident which was not their fault, the insurer will put them in contact with a personal injury solicitor.
Meanwhile, the NHS has been criticised after personal information concerning 87 patients was lost by a placement student last year.
The incident happened at the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust when the student copied data onto an unencrypted memory stick to take away for research. The Information Commissioner’s Office, which was investigating the data breach, said the data stick was mislaid last December.
The Hospital thought the student had been given training in data protection from her medical school and therefore it did not provide her with the training it would give to its own staff.
The ICO’s acting head of enforcement, Sally Anne Poole, remarked that this case emphasises the need for NHS Trusts to ensure that all staff receive adequate training and understand the confidentiality of data from day one.
The London Ambulance Service was also criticised after a laptop containing information about 2,664 patients was stolen from the home of a contractor.