Contaminated Blood Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Adrian Sanders
Main Page: Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)Department Debates - View all Adrian Sanders's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(13 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Lansley
I share the view of the hon. Gentleman. Today the people who should feel that we are expressing our support are those who have been harmed and their families. Those are the people whom we are really supporting today. I hope that they will feel that although not everything that they have hoped for is being provided, we are at least making very substantial progress and doing a great deal to show recognition of the harm that occurred to them.
At this Dispatch Box, I speak on health matters for England; I do not speak for Wales and I am not in a position to say what the decisions of the devolved Administrations are. I have set out what we are going to do in England. We are funding the measure from within allocated budgets, so no Barnett consequentials flow from it. These matters will be determined within each of the other Administrations in respect of whether they wish to share in the arrangements that I have described.
Mr Adrian Sanders (Torbay) (LD)
There cannot be a Member of this House who does not have at least one constituent who is affected or who knows someone who is affected by this. I am sure that every hon. Member would like to congratulate the Government on the statement. Will the Secretary of State give an assurance that the bureaucracy needed to process matters forward has been looked at, so that it is kept to a minimum?
Mr Lansley
Yes, we have done that. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: hon. Members will have met constituents or the families of constituents who have been harmed, or the families of those who died. I hope that hon. Members will take the opportunity to bring the terms of today’s statement to their attention, so that people can access the additional support at the earliest possible opportunity. We will seek to do what my hon. Friend mentions. What I am describing builds as far as possible on existing mechanisms and, with the exception of the new discretionary trust, will not create any additional bureaucracy.