Hughes Report: First Anniversary
Debate between Ashley Dalton and John Glen(4 days, 21 hours ago)
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Ashley Dalton
I do appreciate the frustrations. Since we came into government last July, patient safety has been, and I can confirm that it remains, a top priority for this Government. Although it has been a year since the publication of the Hughes report, this is a complex issue involving several Departments, and it is important that we get the response right. As I have said, I will commit to writing to Baroness Merron on timescales, as requested, to get further clarification on that, and we are committed to learning from other instances in which patient safety has been impacted. The infected blood inquiry was mentioned by the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen).
John Glen
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way. I was not trying to suggest earlier that her tenure in office would be short-lived; I wish her every success in her endeavours. I think the spirit of today has been about cross-party consensus, not seeking to make political points about this matter, but what I will say to the Minister is that she can go back to her officials and say that there are two very recent precedents for interim payments, under the infected blood compensation scheme, of quite significant numbers. They were maximised, so that there would be no loss to the public purse—that is to say, they were entitlements that everyone would have been able to receive. That mechanism is there, so this can happen sooner. I recognise what the Minister is saying and I wish her well in her endeavours, but she should be able to do something with that information.
Ashley Dalton
I assure the right hon. Member that we are working at pace on this. It is a complicated matter, and we are taking note of previous similar situations. I assure him and the rest of the House that we will be updating the Patient Safety Commissioner at the earliest opportunity. I appreciate that it is frustrating that I cannot give an exact date or timescale in this debate, but we are working to make sure that we get this right.