Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has undertaken a cross-Government security risk assessment of sensitive data contracts awarded to Palantir Technologies Inc.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It is long-standing policy that the Government does not disclose the specifics of its security arrangements, including with suppliers.
The UK takes national security extremely seriously and has taken robust action to ensure the security of sensitive government data. As set out in the recent National Procurement Policy Statement, the Government mitigates supply chain and national security risks by ensuring appropriate data and security controls are in place. All contracting authorities are encouraged to follow the Government Security Group’s guidance on Tackling Security Risk in Government Supply Chains, which details best practices for procurement, commercial, and security practitioners when selecting and onboarding suppliers.
We also encourage organisations to adhere to the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Protective Security Authority’s supply chain security guidance when selecting technology suppliers, which outlines the required security standards and procurement considerations.
The National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP) has been established to support Ministers in assessing suppliers on national security grounds in line with the Procurement Act 2023. NSUP works closely with government departments to oversee implementation of these measures and enhance supplier security assessments across the procurement process.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the change in population of the 17-19 year old age group in Newton Abbot Constituency in the last five years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 11th June is attached.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to reduce waste in government departments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As part of the second phase of the spending review Departments have been set a stretching 5% productivity, efficiency and savings target. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has also asked each department to carry out a line-by-line review of existing day-to-day budgets to identify where spending is no longer aligned with this government’s priorities or is poor value for money.
The Government has undertaken several specific measures to drive efficiency and reduce waste and bureaucracy across Whitehall, as part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change. The Cabinet Office has instructed departments to:
freeze Government Procurement Cards, with a tough new application process to cut the numbers in circulation;
justify every Arm’s Length Body, otherwise they are to be closed, merged, or delivered by departments to reduce duplication, drive efficiency, and ensure democratic accountability for policy decisions that affect the British public; and
Officials are required to hold training and team-building exercises and ‘away days’ in government buildings that are available for free, instead of hiring external venues. All departments have been asked to review their policies on procuring corporate-branded and non-essential merchandise, with a view to restricting future purchases.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether people eligible for the infected blood compensation scheme will retain access to (a) disability grants, (b) dependent children payments and (c) other support scheme benefits.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Any payments received from the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme are disregarded from means tested benefit assessments. This means that compensation payments made through the Scheme will not adversely impact on the means tested benefits received by either infected or affected people.
Those currently on the Infected Blood Support Schemes will continue to receive their discretionary payments until they receive a compensation offer from IBCA. The compensation will take into account any discretionary payments received under the support schemes when calculating a compensation award.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Government will establish a supplementary route to claim for autonomy, social impact, and injury awards outside the core route of the infected blood compensation scheme.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The scope of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme’s supplementary route is in line with the recommendations Sir Robert Francis KC made to the Government in August 2024.
In his report, Sir Robert discussed the merits of expanding the supplementary route to heads of loss beyond care and financial loss. Sir Robert concluded it would likely be disproportionate for applicants and the scheme to do so and the supplementary route should instead focus on recognising the substantive additional care needs and financial loss of applicants.
The Government accepted Sir Robert’s recommendation that, with the exception of autonomy awards to victims of unethical research, supplementary route awards should only be available for care and financial loss.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure Infected Blood Compensation Authority caseworkers and assessors are suitably trained to interpret complex medical records when determining compensation awards.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Dedicated claim managers are supporting individuals through the claim process and, depending on the data available to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), there may be some instances in which more information is asked for to complete a claim. In those instances, IBCA may be able to help source that information to relieve the burden on the person making the claim. I visited the IBCA team led by Sir Robert Francis earlier this year. I saw how determined they are for compensation to be paid out to victims as soon as possible. Additionally, all claims managers employed since October 2024 have received three weeks of trauma-informed training for the role.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to introduce an individual assessment route for the infected blood compensation claims.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that every victim of infected blood will have their own unique circumstances, and experienced devastating losses. To avoid a lengthy, complex and burdensome evidence gathering process, the Government has accepted the Inquiry’s recommendations to take a tariff-based approach to compensation. The principles of a tariff based scheme seek to minimise the amount of information that people applying to the scheme are required to provide and help to ensure that compensation can be awarded more quickly than would otherwise be possible if all applications had to be individually assessed.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether supplementary financial loss claims under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme will be open to estates of deceased victims.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Yes. The supplementary route for financial loss will be open to all infected people, including those who have very sadly passed away.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the Infected Blood Compensation Authority will determine the date of first infection in cases where no clear medical record exists.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Given the historic nature of the infected blood scandal, the Government recognises that not all medical records will still be available. The Scheme has been designed to minimise as far as possible the burden on those applying, and as set out in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2024, eligibility for the Scheme will be determined based on the balance of probabilities. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority will provide assistance to those who believe their medical records have been lost or destroyed. If it is not possible to establish the year in which the infection was contracted, the year in which the first blood product was received will be taken as the infection year unless there is evidence an infection must have occurred later. The regulations set out that, in such cases, the earliest possible year an infection could have been contracted will be accepted.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how infected blood compensation claims involving co-infection with HIV and hepatitis viruses will account for the earlier date of hepatitis infection when calculating compensation.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
For people co-infected with HIV and Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C, compensation will be calculated from the date of the first infection. If it is not possible to establish when someone was first infected, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority will use the earliest year the infection could have been contracted unless there is evidence that it must have occurred later.