Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the departmental settlement for his Department for this Spending Review period included any specific allocation of funds for ex gratia payments to victims of contaminated blood in future financial years.

The £25 million, announced by the Prime Minister in March 2015 to support transition to a reformed scheme, will remain available in 2016-17. We are assessing what can be allocated above and beyond that. We expect to announce our plans for that money once we have a better understanding of what wider scheme reform might comprise following the outcome of consultation.