Oral Answers to Questions

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

We are determined to improve children and young people’s experience of both mental and physical health services, and we are determined to do more to ensure that mental health and paediatric waits are put under the spotlight and given the same attention as the overall elective backlog. I am sure we will have more to say about that when we publish the 10-year plan.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

T2. I pay tribute to my constituents Sheila and Joe Ward, who have long campaigned for vaccine-injured people and bereaved families following the death of their husband and father. The vaccine damage payment scheme has received 16,824 claims. When can people who are still mourning the loss of loved ones expect to receive the compensation that they deserve?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)]

In September the Secretary of State and I met the families of people who had suffered harm following the covid-19 vaccination, including my hon. Friend’s constituent Sheila Ward, and they raised the need for reform of the vaccination damage scheme. We listened closely to their descriptions of what they had been through and agreed to look at a number of options, noting that cross-cutting Government decisions might be necessary. We are also working with the NHS Business Services Authority to improve claimants’ experiences of the scheme, and to ensure that claims are processed quickly.