Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the German government urging it to make appropriate financial contributions to British victims of thalidomide.

This Government remains a strong supporter of Thalidomide survivors. Her Majesty's Government is supporting the Thalidomide Trust’s National Advisory Council in their efforts to engage the German government in order to seek compensation for British Survivors of Thalidomide. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is currently working with the National Advisory Council in its efforts to secure a meeting with the relevant German authorities.

The British Ambassador to Berlin has raised the National Advisory Council’s campaign with the German Families Minister, Manuela Schwesig.

In addition, the Minister for Life Sciences at the Department of Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (Mr Freeman), raised the issue of Thalidomide with the German government when visiting Berlin on 23 February.