Health: Contaminated Blood Products

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I am well aware of the noble Baroness’s personal interest in this matter and feel deeply for her. She is of course correct that the Skipton Fund was not designed to support bereaved relatives. It was designed to alleviate the suffering of those infected with hepatitis C. Sympathetic as I am towards those who have lost their loved ones in this tragedy, that fund does have a specific purpose and it would require a major review to alter that purpose. However, I note her concern on this matter.

[Lord Alderdice]

My Lords, I share in the congratulations and good wishes to the noble Earl, who has served this House so well on health issues, and offer my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Morris of Manchester, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Archer of Sandwell, on their tenacious pursuit of this issue. Does the noble Earl agree that the High Court judgment shows a confusion of thinking on the part of the Department of Health not only in regard to this matter but on the whole question of dealing with adverse health events? Does he accept, as the Scottish Executive have done, as the Chief Medical Officer did in 2003 and the National Audit Office did in its report in 2004, that much more money would be available in compensation if it were not being spent on legal fees and court cases, and that the introduction of a no-fault compensation scheme could achieve that?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I share the noble Lord’s antipathy to taxpayers’ money being shelled out in legal fees, but what has happened has happened. In the current constrained financial climate, every department of Government will look very carefully at its legal activity.