Contaminated Blood — House of Commons, 2015-01-15
Topic: Health
Jane Ellison (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the tone with which the shadow Secretary of State responded to the debate on behalf of the Opposition. I also congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) on securing this debate and on his hard work and commitment—as a Minister, I am well aware of it—over the past year. The same is true of so many colleagues who have worked on behalf of those infected with NHS-supplied blood or blood products before 1991 I thank all hon. Members who have contributed to the debate, which has been conducted in a constructive and thoughtful way, and, of course, distinguished former colleagues who championed their constituents so ably in the past. As we have heard, many of those constituents have been profoundly affected by this issue. I attended the last debate on it when I was a Back Bencher, and today I have heard once again about the impact these infections have had on the lives of individuals and families I will focus mainly on the current situation rather than the past, not because the past does not matter, but because it has been ably covered and because I want to add to the knowledge of the situation as it is now and give an indication of the way forward. I hope Members will understand that. If there are any issues that I do not address, I will, of course, write to Members, and if their concerns involve other Departments, I will seek to get a response from them There have been calls for a further inquiry and review. That subject has come up before, with calls to look at the historic circumstances of these events. There are various ways in which that could be done and I acknowledge the suggestion made by the shadow Secretary of State. I stress that the Government wish to be as transparent as possible about these events, but I remind the House that they have already been repeatedly examined in a number of different ways, including in court on a number of occasions, and the Department of Health has already published on its website all the relevant documents held for the period up to 1986. I acknowledge that there might be more to do, some of which relates to Lord Penrose’s work The Penrose inquiry has loomed over this debate. Let me give the House a sense of my frustration. When I came into office, I was advised that the original date of publication would be June 2014. Let me also give the House a sense of the seriousness with which I took the preparation for that report. I met Scottish Health Ministers last spring to discuss it and other issues. Obviously, work is taking place in Scotland and the publication of the final report has been delayed. The inquiry now expects to announce a publication date this month. There has been no formal confirmation, although a date has been offered during the course of the debate. I understand that Lord Penrose will examine any particular adverse consequences for infected patients and their families, and identify lessons and implications for the future. That is why we feel we need to wait to see the report As the events under discussion took place before devolution, the final report of the inquiry will clearly be of interest to the Government and we await its recommendations. I am extremely frustrated by the continued delay and accept that it will have an impact on the scope of our response in this Parliament As has been touched on, the Government, like their predecessors, provide ex-gratia financial and other support through the system of payment schemes that is in place.