Contaminated Blood Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Philip Hollobone
Main Page: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)Department Debates - View all Philip Hollobone's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Ben Gummer
The hon. Gentleman raises the issue of English votes for English laws. That has been deferred, because the House wishes to discuss it further.
On the issue before us, a report was delivered in March, but the general election then intervened, which effectively took six weeks out of the time in which the Government could make decisions. We began work the minute we returned to government, and I have now provided an update and the prospectus for a consultation in the autumn. It will be the first consultation that the sufferers have ever been able to enjoy, and we will finish it as quickly as possible in order to arrive at a settlement. That is rapid progress, given that it has taken us more than 30 years to reach this point.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
I have been listening very carefully to my hon. Friend. Will he be kind enough to make it crystal clear to the House exactly what his intentions are? I understand from what he has said that he expects a new scheme to be up and running by the end of calendar year 2015. If that is incorrect, by when does he expect such a scheme to be established?
Ben Gummer
We shall be consulting this year, the consultation will be concluded by the end of the calendar year, and we hope that a new scheme will be up and running as soon as possible after that. It will, of course, depend slightly on the outcome of the consultation, but I expect the scheme to follow very rapidly on the heels of its conclusion. None of us has an interest in delaying this any further.