Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the burden of proof in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme is placed on victims.

Given the long-running nature of the infected blood scandal, not all medical records will still be available and, as set out in the regulations, eligibility for compensation will be determined based on the balance of probabilities. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) has said that when an individual is invited to make their claim, it will aim to gather some of the information, including medical records and information about an applicant’s condition and severity, from organisations who already have it. This should mean those claiming will be asked for the least amount of information possible. Additionally, IBCA will make a caseworker available for each of these cases, and when I visited IBCA I saw the sympathetic, enabling approach that staff are taking when asking what types of evidence might be helpful and where it could be obtained from.