Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what factors determined the timing of his Department's announcement on the expert group to provide technical advice on compensation for the Government's response to the Infected Blood Inquiry on 18 December 2023.

I refer you to my response to PQ 14436 on the appointment process for the Chair. The same process was followed for appointing the clinical experts. Browne Jacobson LLP secured the contract to provide legal advice via Direct Award. Details of the legal firm contract award were published on Contracts Finder on 7 February.

The Government has moved as quickly as possible to ensure that it has access to the technical expertise necessary to inform its decision-making in relation to the Infected Blood Inquiry recommendations on compensation. The expert group formally began work on 22 January. The names of the other members of the expert group will not be disclosed to safeguard their privacy and ability to continue their frontline work while advising on Government policy.

As their work relates to the formulation and development of Government policy, their advice, evidence and methodologies as well as the minutes and agendas of their meetings will not be published.

The Government is considering all recommendations of the Second Interim Report alongside the recommendations of Sir Robert Francis’s Compensation Framework Study, and the advice from the expert group will inform this. The purpose of the expert group is to provide technical assistance in understanding how the Inquiry’s recommendations could work in practice. The Government is committed to engaging with the community and updating Parliament on progress of the Government response to the Infected Blood Inquiry as appropriate.

The Government has committed to responding to the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Final Report and this response will be informed by the advice of the expert group.