Parliamentary activity

Answering body: Cabinet Office

While there is no way of knowing exactly how many people were infected as a result of this scandal, the findings of the Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991. In their September 2022 Report, they noted that, due to the limitations in the data available, it is not possible to answer the question of how many people were infected with Hepatitis B due to infected blood “with any reasonable accuracy when compared to other infections.”

Therefore, the final number of eligible people infected with Hepatitis B will ultimately depend on the number of victims who come forward to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, who are responsible for the delivery of the Compensation Scheme. There is no limit or target on the amount announced for the scheme and each eligible person will get the compensation they are due.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

In his 2022 Compensation Framework Study, Sir Robert Francis recommended that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was not included in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. He noted that “this is a rare disease for which there is a separate compensation scheme. It is unlikely, therefore, that a separate category is justified in this scheme. However, many of the infected have been warned there is a risk of their having vCJD. Assuming that risk, insofar as it exists, is shared by all who have received blood or blood products in the relevant period, there is no special case for taking it into account in this scheme."

Chapter 5 of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s May 2024 Report examines the Government response to vCJD.