Answering body: Cabinet Office
I thank the Rt Hon Lady for her questions. I appreciate the Rt Hon Lady has also raised related issues in business questions and in a point of order.
I initially made a statement on the infected blood scandal to the House on 15 December in which on behalf of the Government I accepted that there is a moral case for compensation to be paid.
I followed this up by meeting victims of the scandal on 7 March. I am most grateful to the APPG, with the Rt Hon Lady and the Father of the House in the Chair, for facilitating this meeting.
At a very early date after the publication of Sir Brian Langstaff’s Second Interim Report, I came to the House to make a further statement on 19 April to give Rt Hon and Hon Members the opportunity to react to the report and ask questions of the Government.
I wrote to the Rt Hon Lady following publication of the report setting out that I looked forward to further engagement.
I made clear in my statement that I was open to further meetings with the victims of this scandal while we progress the work required to respond to Sir Brian.
I would like to assure the Rt Hon Lady, as I made clear in the statement, of my determination to progress this issue and respond as swiftly as possible. Work continues on the formulation of policy to achieve this objective, including ministerial level meetings chaired by me as sponsor minister for the Inquiry. As is usual, I do not intend to publish details of internal government meetings conducted to inform policy decisions.
On the specific issue of the Devolved Administrations and as I set out in my answer to PQ181290, PQ181291, PQ181293 and PQ181294, we worked closely with the Devolved Administrations to achieve the successful payment of interim compensation to infected victims. Liaison has continued since then at official level.
I anticipated meeting Ministers in the Devolved Administrations following the publication of the Second Interim Report, and I look forward to doing so and hearing their input towards our consideration of the Report. However, I would draw the Rt Hon Lady’s attention to the fact that both Sir Robert Francis and Sir Brian Langstaff recommend a compensation scheme established and funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.
It is also the case, as I said in my statement of 19 April, that Sir Brian differs significantly from Sir Robert in recommending a single UK scheme whereas Sir Robert recommended the utilisation of the existing payment structures operated, inter alia, by the Devolved Administrations. The Rt Hon Lady will appreciate that on this as in many areas of Sir Brian’s Second Interim Report there are significant policy issues that need to be considered by the UK Government as we formulate our response, on which we are working at pace.