Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) stopping and (b) reducing monthly support payments for people accepting one-off compensation payments from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority on people dependent on ongoing support for daily (i) living, (ii) medical and (iii) care costs.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme includes Care and Financial Loss awards, which recognise the past and future care needs and associated costs for infected people.
All support scheme beneficiaries, when undergoing their compensation assessment from IBCA, can choose between the ‘core’ and ‘adjusted’ route. Choosing the core route would mean accepting their compensation as a lump sum, or periodic installments. Choosing the adjusted route, would mean a smaller lump sum, and continuing to receive support payments for life.
If someone chooses to continue receiving support scheme payments, their Care and Financial Loss awards (under the core route) will be offset against their support scheme payments.
This means that regardless of which option an infected person chooses, they will receive a form of payment that recognises their increased living, medical, and care costs, associated with their infection.
Those currently on the Infected Blood Support Schemes will continue to be able to apply for discretionary payments until they receive a compensation offer from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had recent discussions with United Kingdom Security Vetting on vetting clearance rates for applicants with mental health conditions.
Answered by John Glen
I have had recent engagement with the UKSV across various aspects of National Security Vetting (NSV).
The NSV process takes into account many aspects of an individual’s life in order to gather a greater understanding of any risks which may make them unsuitable to have access to sensitive information, assets or access to certain sensitive sites. The individual’s health (both physical and mental) are just one of those aspects. Any mitigations to those risks are also taken into account when making a decision on suitability for clearance. I can advise that many people with mental health considerations do hold NSV clearance.
NSV policy is kept under constant review to ensure that policy reflects changes in society and addresses new and emerging global trends.
It may interest the Honourable Member and her constituents to know there is public facing guidance available on the UKSV government website. This includes information about the vetting process as well as mental health considerations and includes efforts made to help demystify the vetting process and ensure improved inclusivity.
In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.