Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether additional mental health support is being made available to people affected by the contaminated blood scandal.

This Government is committed to providing mental health support for people affected by the contaminated blood tragedy. In England funding is available via the English Infected Blood Support Scheme for infected and affected individuals and their families to access counselling in addition to National Health Service-provided services. In May 2020 a significant change was made to the application process for this support so that beneficiaries can now receive funding for counselling without general practitioner approval or the need to access NHS waiting lists. The devolved administrations, who each run their own Infected Blood Support Schemes, also offer psychological support.