Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill [HL]

Lord Low of Dalston Excerpts

Friday 22nd October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Low of Dalston]

My Lords, I am glad to follow the noble Lord, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, because I identify so strongly with the points of principle that he has made. However, I fear that I will be unable to articulate them with anything like his eloquence.

I add my voice in support of the Bill. I shall be brief. It is unnecessary to go over the whole sorry history of this tragedy—indeed, this scandal—which, as several other speakers have mentioned, has been described by the noble Lord, Lord Winston, as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the National Health Service. It is a textbook illustration of the truth of the great Richard Titmuss’s warnings about the dangers of allowing commercial factors to operate in something like the supply of blood products. Nor shall I go in any detail into the recommendations of the Archer inquiry or the Bill based on them, which is before us today. The noble Lord has done that for us already. I join other speakers in paying tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Morris, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Archer of Sandwell. It is only the tireless persistence of the one and the dedicated and the meticulous investigation, analysis and documentation of the issues by the other, together with a clear-sighted prescription as to what a civilised society ought to do, that have brought us to this point.

What I find particularly deplorable is the complacency displayed by the authorities when what had happened came to light. The journey from the promise of self-sufficiency to its attainment took five years in Ireland but 13 years in England and Wales. This reflects discreditably on the administration of our health services and is something that makes us all feel ashamed. Equally shaming is the heartlessness, obfuscation and prevarication shown by successive Governments, and the cheese-paring and obstructive nature of their response. This is an indictment of the whole of our official culture in this country. Successive Governments had recourse to the device of Crown immunity, requiring sufferers to sign a waiver in respect of hepatitis C in circumstances where they did not know they might have it but the department knew they were at risk. There was resistance to the disclosure of documents to the multi-party group. There was the refusal to hold an inquiry or co-operate fully with the inquiry of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Archer, and then disingenuous reliance on the fact that there have been no findings of fault against the British Government. There was a reliance on discretionary trust funds, rather than a system of benefits as of right, to provide a measure of compensation. There was a failure to recognise the claims of widows. There was a suggestion that, unless a Government are in some way responsible for a misfortune that befalls a group of their citizens, they are under no obligation to relieve it. All these things and more can bring only shame on the reputation of this country and its handling of this tragedy, which has been so much less open and generous than that of numerous other countries.

Two things stand out particularly. One is the reliance on a system of ex gratia and discretionary payments to provide a measure of compensation, rather than a system of direct financial provision as recommended by the Archer inquiry. This smacks of the mentality of the Poor Law. Secondly, most shocking of all is the way that the state has sought to shuffle off responsibility for making amends to those who, through no fault of their own, have suffered as a result of state action or the actions of organs of the state.

The past cannot be undone. Nothing can rescue the victims and their families from what they have suffered. All we can do is make amends as best we can, and as far as measures of compensation can, at the earliest opportunity we have. The previous Government’s response fell significantly short of full implementation of the Archer report. The least this Government can do is take the first opportunity they have to right the wrong that has been done to the victims of this tragedy. The Coalition Government have already shown that they have an honourable record of doing the right thing where other Governments have done their best to obfuscate, prevaricate and shuffle off responsibility in the way that Governments do. The Government’s response to the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday, and the way they have grasped the nettle in relation to those who lost out as a result of the collapse of Equitable Life, gives one confidence that their instincts are sound; that they know what is the right thing to do; and that they are able to face up to their responsibility and act on it when they know it.

As we have heard, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, Anne Milton, has said that she hopes the matter will be sorted by Christmas. The best way for the Government to achieve this would be to give the Bill a fair wind. I very much hope that they will.