Parliamentary activity

Answering body: Cabinet Office

Yesterday, the Infected Blood Inquiry set out its intention to publish an additional report. The Inquiry also published a number of witness statements, including ones provided by the Cabinet Office, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority and a number of people directly impacted by the Infected Blood scandal and their representatives.

The victims of the Infected Blood scandal have suffered unspeakably and their needs continue to remain at the forefront of our work. The Government will give careful consideration to the statements published by the Inquiry. I am committed to continuing to build trust with people who are impacted by this scandal, and to engage further with representatives of the infected blood community on the Government’s response. We will continue to cooperate with the Inquiry over the coming months.

The Government is determined to deliver justice for people who are infected and affected as a result of the Infected Blood Scandal. That is why, in the Autumn Budget, we set aside £11.8 billion to compensate victims of the Infected Blood scandal. This is one of the biggest compensation schemes in our country’s history - and that is entirely right given the scale of this injustice. In line with our commitment, in December last year the Infected Blood Compensation Authority began delivering this compensation. As of Friday 21 February, 204 people have been invited to start their claim, and IBCA is on track to meet its commitment for 250 people to start their claim by the end of March.

Before the end of March, both Houses will have the opportunity to debate the draft regulations for people who are affected including partners, parents, children, siblings and, in some instances, carers. Once in force, the draft Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025 will provide IBCA with the powers it needs to begin making payments to eligible affected people. We have committed that payments to affected people will start by the end of 2025.

The Government also recognises that delivering justice is much more than financial compensation. I am continuing to work with the Department of Health and Social Care, taking forward the Inquiry’s recommendations to ensure that everything is done to prevent further such tragedies in the future.

My personal commitment to this work, and the people impacted by it, remains steadfast. The Government is acting on the findings of the Inquiry. We will continue to work with the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to ensure compensation is delivered as swiftly and compassionately as possible to everyone who so greatly deserves it.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report was published on 20 May 2024 and made 12 recommendations. The recommendations made by Sir Brian Langstaff are wide-ranging, well considered, and necessarily complex.

In the months since the publication of the Inquiry’s report, Parliament has come together a number of times to discuss the infected blood scandal. In the course of those debates, I committed to providing an update on the Government’s response to the recommendations by the end of this year. This update fulfils that commitment. Alongside this statement, I am publishing a command paper detailing the full update on gov.uk, and I have requested that copies be deposited in the libraries of the Houses of Parliament.

The Government accepts in full or accepts in principle all of the recommendations made. Where recommendations are accepted in principle, we have sought to explain the rationale for doing so. Many of the recommendations are wide-reaching, and proper implementation needs time to be delivered effectively. The Government has worked to progress implementation and assess the deliverability of each of the recommendations. We are committed to making meaningful change. As per Recommendation 12 of the Infected Blood Inquiry, I will provide a further final update on the progress made on Inquiry's recommendations by May 2025.

I am grateful to my ministerial colleagues for their co-operation, and in particular my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention at the Department of Health and Social Care for his leadership on the recommendations for which his department is responsible. I am also grateful to Ministers in the devolved governments, in particular the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health in Scotland, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in Wales and the Minister of Health in Northern Ireland. Their engagement has been invaluable in ensuring that we have as consistent an approach as possible across the whole United Kingdom.

The victims of this scandal have suffered immeasurably. It is my utmost intention to deliver what justice and compensation the Government can as quickly as possible. This government is taking concrete action to deliver on the compensation scheme. The Chancellor announced £11.8bn of funding in the Autumn Budget, and I am pleased to update that the Infected Blood Compensation Authority has been able to make the first payments to the victims of this scandal in the last few days.

Furthermore, I can also confirm today that the Government has also extended its eligibility criteria for siblings for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme to ensure that the Scheme provides fair compensation to those who have been devastatingly impacted as a result of their sibling’s infection.

Under the new definition, siblings of infected people will be eligible if they, while under the age of 18, lived in the same household as an infected person for a period of at least 2 years after the onset of the infection, or would have been expected to live in the same household were it not for the impact of the infection. Siblings in this scenario will receive an Injury Impact Award in line with the severity of the infection, and a Social Impact award of £12,000.

Alternatively, siblings will also be eligible as long as they cohabited, or were expected to cohabit with the infected person were it not for the impact of the infection, for at least 2 years whilst the affected sibling was under the age of 18. This is the case even if that period was prior to the infection, including if the infection happened during adulthood. Siblings in this scenario will receive an Injury Impact Award in line with the severity of the infection, and a Social Impact Award of £8,000. This mirrors the Social Impact Award available to carers, parents (where the onset of a child’s infection began after age 18); and children (where the onset of a parent’s infection began after their child turned 18).

I hope that both these updates provide the infected blood community with some assurance that we are learning from and acting on the mistakes of the past.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The compensation amounts available to people who are infected and affected differ depending on their circumstances. As recommended by the Inquiry, the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme has been designed as a tariff-based framework. The proposed tariffs have been developed on the advice of the Infected Blood Inquiry Response Expert Group, which included clinical and legal advisors assisted by social care specialists. The tariff for infected people will be based on the severity of their infection or infections. The proposed tariffs for affected people will similarly be based on the severity banding in relation to their loved one who was infected. The tariff-based approach means that the Scheme will award compensation that reflects personal circumstances while making payments quickly.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The compensation amounts available to people who are infected and affected differ depending on their circumstances. As recommended by the Inquiry, the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme has been designed as a tariff-based framework. The proposed tariffs have been developed on the advice of the Infected Blood Inquiry Response Expert Group, which included clinical and legal advisors assisted by social care specialists. The tariff for infected people will be based on the severity of their infection or infections. The proposed tariffs for affected people will similarly be based on the severity banding in relation to their loved one who was infected. The tariff-based approach means that the Scheme will award compensation that reflects personal circumstances while making payments quickly.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Government is working closely with DHSC and other relevant departments and organisations to give the recommendations full consideration. We will provide an update to Parliament on the progress we are making to respond to the Inquiry’s recommendations by the end of the year, as the Inquiry recommends. The Government will pay compensation to infected and affected victims of infected blood.

The Government asked Sir Robert Francis KC to hold an engagement exercise with the infected blood community to give recommendations on the composition of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority is committed to engaging with the infected and affected community in an open and transparent way so that it can deliver the compensation scheme as quickly as possible, and in a way that meets the needs of the community.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

In May, the Infected Blood Inquiry produced its final report and the country heard the full extent to which thousands of men, women, and children had their lives overturned by the use of infected blood and blood products in the NHS. The infected blood scandal is a shameful mark on our national history. I would like to pay tribute to the courage and determination of every single person that has suffered because of the use of infected blood and to those who have taken tireless action to ensure their community is heard. Every death that results from the infected blood scandal is a tragedy, and this Government is committed to acting on the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry to ensure swift resolution for all of those impacted.

The principal recommendation from the Infected Blood Inquiry was that the Government compensation scheme for victims of infected blood should be established ‘now’. The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme was legally established for people who are infected and claiming compensation through the Core Route in regulations laid on 23 August. We expect the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to begin making payments to people who are infected by the end of this year, and last week the Infected Blood Compensation Authority reached out to the very first claimants under the Scheme. However there is still more to do. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Government is aiming for a second set of regulations to be in force by 31 March 2025. This will support our shared aim to begin payments to people who are affected in 2025.

The Government also recognises that people have waited far too long for compensation payments. That’s why interim payments are crucial for supporting people until the Infected Blood Compensation Authority is up and running. In October 2022, interim payments of £100,000 were made to living infected beneficiaries or bereaved partners registered with the Infected Blood Support Schemes. In June this year, further interim payments of £210,000 were made to living infected victims of infected blood. Through these interim payments, over £1 billion has been paid to people who are infected or their bereaved partners.

The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 placed a statutory duty on the Government to deliver interim payments of £100,000 to estates for deaths not yet recognised through financial compensation. This followed the recommendation in Sir Robert Francis’ Compensation Framework Study that interim payments should be made to “to recognise the deaths of people to date unrecognised and thereby alleviate immediate suffering” and achieves the spirit of recommendation 12 of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Second Interim Report in the most practicable way.

On 26 July, I informed the House that the applications for interim payments due to be made to estates of deceased infected persons were scheduled to open in October, and that further details were to follow. Today, I can announce that the process under which estates can apply for interim compensation payments has now opened. For many people, this is the first substantial compensation payment they will benefit from to recognise the lives of people they have lost as a result of the use of infected blood and blood products.

This is a £100,000 interim payment, and as with any compensation payment related to infected blood, it will be exempt from income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax and disregarded from means tested benefit assessments.

As with the previous interim payments, these payments will be delivered through the existing Infected Blood Support Schemes. These payments are to be made to the estates of deceased infected persons, where interim payments have not already been received, in those cases where the deceased infected person was registered with an existing or predecessor scheme on or before 17 April 2024.

Those who were not registered with an existing or predecessor scheme on or before this date may still be eligible for compensation. For these cases, estate representatives will need to apply to claim compensation with the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, once applications open. I will provide a further update on this in due course.

Where an interim compensation payment has already been made directly to the infected person, to their bereaved partner, or their estate, an estate will be ineligible for this interim payment.

Only the personal representative of the estate is able to make the application. Applicants will need a grant of probate, letters of administration, or a grant of confirmation (specific to Scotland) to evidence entitlement to claim interim compensation on behalf of the estate. To assist the legal process of obtaining this evidence as quickly as possible (for those that do not already have it), applicants can claim back their exact legal costs up to £1,500.

The application form is available to download online at gov.uk, together with full guidance on how to apply. Applicants may request a hard copy of the application form from the UK Infected Blood Support Scheme operating in the nation of the UK where the deceased infected person was infected. The completed form and supporting documents should be sent to the relevant Infected Blood Support Scheme.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

I should like to inform the House that I have appointed three interim Non-Executive Board Members to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority under Part 3 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024:

Russell Frith, appointed as an Interim Audit and Risk Board Member, effective from 1st October 2024 until 1 October 2025;

Deborah Harris-Ugbomah, appointed as an Interim Commercial Board Member, effective from 1st October 2024 until 1 October 2025; and

Paula Sussex, appointed as an Interim Digital and Data Board Member, effective from 1st October 2024 until 1 October 2025.

Sir Robert Francis KC, the interim Chair of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, has also appointed three interim Non-Executive Board Members:

Sir Robert Behrens, appointed as an Interim Community Engagement Board Member, effective from 1st October 2024 until 1 October 2025;

Helen Parker, appointed as an Interim Community Engagement Board Member, effective from 1st October 2024 until 1 October 2025; and

Gillian Fairfield, appointed as an Interim Medical Board Member, effective from 1st October 2024 until 1 October 2025.

These short term appointments will support the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to deliver compensation to people who are infected and affected in a timely manner. An open and fair recruitment process will commence in 2025 to fill these posts substantively.

The Government is absolutely committed to acting on the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry and today’s announcement is progress towards that collective aim. I will continue to update the House as we progress work to deliver long overdue compensation to people infected and affected as a result of the Infected Blood Scandal.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Inquiry is independent of Government and the conduct of the Inquiry is a matter for the Chair. Since it began, the Inquiry sat to hear evidence for 290 days from 374 witnesses, including people with hepatitis B. In total, the Inquiry has received 5,570 witness statements, including 4,265 statements from people infected and affected.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Government is committed to working with Devolved Administrations and delivering compensation to people who are infected and affected as soon as possible.

As of 30 June 2024, 109 individuals in Northern Ireland have received interim compensation payments. This comprises 85 individuals infected with contaminated blood or blood products, and 24 bereaved partners of infected individuals who have sadly passed away. While 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. Due to the nature of the Infected Blood scandal there is uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible for compensation. The final number of eligible people will ultimately depend on the number of victims who come forward. The Government will compensate people who have been infected and affected by the infected blood scandal, and we expect the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to begin making payments by the end of the year.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

It is very important that we recognise what happened to people as a result of the Infected Blood Scandal and that we continue to remember these events for future generations. The Government is carefully considering Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations and we will provide an update to Parliament on the progress we are making to respond to the Inquiry’s recommendations, including this recommendation on memorialisation, by the end of the year.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The findings of the Inquiry’s report are deeply concerning. We are working closely with DHSC and other interested departments to give each recommendation full consideration. This Government will bring forward legislation to place a duty of candour on public servants and authorities. This will be an important step towards addressing a culture of defensiveness. I will update Parliament on the progress on all recommendations by the end of the year.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

There will be no immediate changes to the Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Under the current proposal published on 21 May by the previous Government, payments will continue to be made at the same level until 31 March 2025 and they will not be deducted from any compensation awards. From 1 April 2025, people who receive IBSS payments will continue to receive payments until such time that their case is assessed under the new Scheme by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority. Once assessed under the Scheme, the applicant will be able to choose how to receive their compensation, either as a lump sum or periodic payments. I gave a statement to the House on Friday 26th July to update on the progress made on responding to the Infected Blood Inquiry and committed to providing regular updates on this work going forward.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The Government is committed to acting on the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Report and providing compensation to victims as quickly as possible. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority is established in law and work is progressing to put the operational systems in place with the expectation of beginning payments by the end of this year. To date, over £1 billion has been paid in interim compensation to infected people who were registered with the existing Infected Blood Support Schemes and their bereaved partners.

Answering body: Department of Health and Social Care

The final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry describes the many failings of successive governments, including historic failings in the Department and its predecessor departments. The Department will study the report to make sure the lessons of Sir Brian’s inquiry are learned, and that these mistakes can never be repeated.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

Today, Sir Brian Langstaff has published the final report of the independent Infected Blood Inquiry. I am authorising a copy of the report to be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

I am very grateful to Sir Brian for his forensic and detailed report, his team’s diligent work over the six years of the Inquiry, and for the sensitivity and care with which he has ensured that the people directly and indirectly impacted by the infected blood scandal have been front and centre of his Inquiry’s work. His report is a very substantial document, and it will be impossible for anyone reading it not to be deeply affected by its content. The report lays bare the devastating consequences of the use of infected blood and blood products, and I hope it answers the questions that the infected and affected have been asking for so long.

I have listened to the strongly held views of those members of the infected blood community that I have spoken with; this day is about the truth, the community, and a time for reflection about those they have lost, and the suffering which they have endured over decades.

It is right that the Government should formally recognise this significant report on the day of publication, and so the Prime Minister will give a short statement to Parliament later today. There will be a further statement tomorrow in the Commons regarding compensation.

The Government will look to provide the House with a further opportunity to debate the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report.

Answering body: Cabinet Office

The statement I made on 21st May to Parliament provided clarity on the Government response to the Inquiry’s second interim report. The Scheme responds directly to and is in line with the recommendations made by the Infected Blood Inquiry in its second interim report, which considered the earlier study into compensation by Sir Robert Francis KC.