Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department's paper, Infected Blood: Government response to consultancy on special category mechanism and other support in England, published on 28 September 2017, what steps he is taking to guarantee that people affected by the scandal will not be subject to reductions in their discretionary support (a) before April 2018 and (b) for the rest of the Spending Review period.

Discretionary and non-discretionary support will continue at the same level to all beneficiaries who consented to their data being transferred to the new scheme until the end of the financial year. As set out in the recent consultation response, beneficiaries will then receive higher non-discretionary annual payments for the 2018-19 financial year. To ensure discretionary support in the new, single, scheme is balanced, consistent and fair to all beneficiaries, the scheme administrator will conduct a review of all on-going discretionary payments such as income top ups.