Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Oliver Dowden and Philippa Whitford

Wednesday 23rd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)]

T2. One hundred and eighty-one victims have died since the start of the contaminated blood inquiry, so when will this Government accept the responsibility for the worst scandal in the NHS and pay compensation to surviving victims and bereaved families?

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Oliver Dowden)]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point. The infected blood inquiry is a priority for the Government, and it is extremely important that all those who have suffered so terribly can get the answers that they have spent decades waiting for. On the point of compensation, the Government have always made it clear that we will wait for the determination of legal liability, to which the inquiry’s deliberations relate, and then make our determination off the back of that.