Proposals to remove juries from complex fraud trials have received a mixed reaction from the insurance industry.
Last week the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith announced that in the Autumn the government would push parliament to vote on powers to restrict jury trials in complicated fraud cases.
AXA claims director David Williams said: "It is difficult to get prosecutions in fraud trials.
"Removing juries would reduce the costs of a case and a judge [sitting alone or with experts] is more likely to understand the difficult issues."
He added that the move would also give the Crown Prosecution Service more confidence in taking fraud cases to trial.
Williams said the industry as a whole needed to do more to change consumer perception of insurance fraud. He said there should be more "visible" prosecutions of insurance fraudsters.
A spokeswoman for Royal & SunAlliance gave the view that the plans would have little bearing on the insurance industry as most of the fraud claims involving the industry were too simple to be affected by the changes.
Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
