Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 19004, what steps he has taken to communicate with people affected by contaminated blood products on the timing of the consultation.

An update on the timing of the consultation was provided during an Urgent Question on 16 December 2015, Official Report, columns 1555-1565. I updated the members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood on the progress of the consultation at a meeting in November. A note of this meeting was published on the Haemophilia Society website.

It is anticipated that the consultation will be published and an announcement made, in January 2016. The Department will be communicating this to all affected individuals and those with an interest. The details of the consultation will be published on the gov.uk website, including details of how those who are interested may provide a response.