Contaminated Blood
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and Ben Gummer(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Ben Gummer
My right hon. Friend raises an important point. He may be aware that the Government have launched an accelerated review of hepatitis C drugs, and the Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), will be updating the House as soon as he has news on that. At the moment, I am afraid all I can promise is celerity rather than certainty.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson) for putting this urgent question and for all her dedicated work on this agonising issue. I put it to the Minister that if he had made his statement not to the House but to my constituents, including one in particular who lives in agony and fear, the reaction would have been less parliamentary than it has been this afternoon. The people who are waiting for this do not have an infinite amount of time, and the correspondence that I receive on this matter rends my heart. The consultation is taking too long, and action is essential.
Ben Gummer
I agree in large part with the right hon. Gentleman. He has been in this place for many years, and he will know that successive Governments have not acted on this great tragedy. We are moving quickly. In the wake of the Penrose report in March, the Prime Minister promised to move rapidly following the election of the new Government. We are updating the House at the moment, and we will be launching a consultation on a new scheme in the autumn. I hope that most sufferers will understand that that is about as quickly as we are able to move. The thing that they have asked for above all is action, and that is precisely what this Government are taking.