Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to support the petition from British survivors of thalidomide damage to the EU Commissioner for Health and MEPs which seeks to secure a fair level of compensation for the costs and losses arising from the damage done to them by thalidomide.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is in frequent contact with the Thalidomide Trust, and is assisting the Trust in arranging meetings with the relevant German authorities on behalf of British survivors of thalidomide. We are ready to consider similar requests for assistance in lobbying at EU level.