Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many haemophiliac registrant victims of the contaminated blood scandal were paid the full £20,000 from the £10 million that the Government allocated in 1989 to the Haemophilia Society.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Haemophilia Society is a national charity founded in 1950 to provide support and services to the haemophilia community. The Department gave an ex gratia grant of £10 million to the Haemophilia Society in 1987 to enable them to establish a special trust fund so that payments could be made to meet the needs of the individuals with haemophilia affected and infected with HIV/AIDS because of receiving contaminated blood and blood products. This trust fund was called the Macfarlane Trust and it began administering the scheme in 1988.
The Macfarlane Trust was wound up in November 2017 and the English Infected Blood Support Scheme took over this scheme from November 2017 along with all other schemes supporting those affected and infected by contaminated blood and blood products.
The Department does not hold data in respect of numbers of people receiving an ex gratia payment.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will allocate the additional funding announced by the Chancellor during Spending Round 2019 to compensate people affected by contaminated blood scandal.
Answered by Julian Smith
The contaminated blood scandal was a tragedy that has caused unimaginable pain and hurt to victims and their families.
The Infected Blood Inquiry is UK-wide and the Inquiry terms of reference include consideration of financial assistance across all the nations of the UK.
The Minister of State for Northern Ireland recently met with the Chair of Haemophilia NI to discuss the issue of support for victims in Northern Ireland.
However, this is a devolved matter and the allocation of the NI budget is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the correspondence between the Prime Minister and Haemophilia Scotland in May 2019, what steps the Department is taking to provide people (a) infected and (b) affected by contaminated blood with a fair and transparent support scheme; and what steps he is taking to tackle the disparity in financial support across the Devolved Administrations.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
A major uplift was announced on 30 April 2019 to the financial support available to infected and affected beneficiaries registered with the infected blood support scheme in England.
As announced at that time, the Government is committed to working with its counterparts in the devolved administrations to look at the issue of parity of support across the United Kingdom. I have written to my counterparts in all the other devolved nations, including the Permanent Secretary of Northern Ireland, inviting them to meet to discuss this issue at the earliest opportunity. A date for this meeting is currently being sought.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information the Government holds via the National Haemophilia Database on the number of haemophiliacs classed as Leiden who were infected via contaminated blood products.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The National Haemophilia Database (NHD) does not collect data on Factor V Leiden patients as the presence of this mutation causes an increased risk of excess blood clotting or thrombosis. The NHD collects statistics on patients with bleeding disorders, their treatment and morbidity and mortality associated with their condition and its treatment, not those with excess blood clotting disorders.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what updated guidance his Department has issued to personal independence payment (PIP) assessment providers to ensure that those assessors understand the impact and effect of contaminated blood on claimants, and what monitoring his Department has undertaken of the outcomes of PIP assessments since the review of haemarthropathy cases to ensure the effectiveness of that guidance.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Department is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to live independently and we recognise the contribution that PIP can make to this. During meetings with the DWP Working Group with individuals affected by contaminated blood, concerns were raised about people affected by contaminated blood scoring nil or low points for PIP, and members were invited to share any such cases for review. After reviewing all of the cases received, a problem with how the functional needs of claimants with haemarthropathy had been assessed for PIP was identified.
On the 25th June 2018 the Department began an administrative exercise to review cases of claimants with contaminated blood where they have haemophilia or haemarthropathy from other causes, to ensure claimants receive the correct award. To date 370 cases have been reviewed. All claimants have now been notified, completing the original exercise.
In conjunction with this administrative exercise the Department along with PIP assessment providers have developed new guidance on haemophilia and haemarthropathy to ensure health professionals appropriately assess such cases. This guidance was fully implemented on 15th February 2019 and the Department will now be reviewing a second batch of recent cases, assessed between the end of the original exercise and the implementation of the guidance.
Additionally, Assessment Providers and stakeholders are working together to develop reports for haemophilia and contaminated blood. These reports are completed by groups which represent individuals with specific health conditions and impairments. They are intended to provide insight regarding the daily life and everyday challenges which individuals with these conditions may face to further support health professionals in future assessments.
The Department is committed to supporting individuals effected by contaminated blood and continues to work closely with the DWP Working Group to ensure we fully support our claimants and make improvements where possible.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment claims where (a) the main disabling feature is haemophilia and (b) the claimant has been affected by contaminated blood received nil points or low points in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19.
Answered by Sarah Newton
With regards to (a), the Department publishes data on clearances (whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn), which can be broken down by month and by Main Disabling Condition (which includes Haemophilia A and Haemophilia B) in the PIP Clearances table at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is here:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Data on clearances is available from the date PIP was introduced in April 2013 to October 2018 and only those who attend an assessment will have a Main Disabling Condition recorded for them. Please note, contaminated blood is not a disabling condition on
Stat-Xplore but can be the cause of other disabling conditions.
The information requested on point scores (b) is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether it is the Government's policy that victims in Northern Ireland of the infected blood scandal deserve as a matter of urgency the same financial recognition as those in Scotland, England and Wales due to the scandal having taken place under direct rule; and if she will meet representatives from Haemophilia Northern Ireland to discuss their concerns.
Answered by John Penrose
I am happy to confirm that The Infected Blood Inquiry is UK-wide and includes Northern Ireland. The contaminated blood scandal was an appalling tragedy and I urge all victims from Northern Ireland, or family members of victims, to engage with the Public Inquiry and I acknowledge the work of Haemophilia Northern Ireland to support some of those affected to do this. The Inquiry terms of reference include consideration of the question of financial assistance, including for those in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department held during the Parliamentary summer recess with victims and victims' groups on the contaminated blood inquiry.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department did not hold any discussions during Parliamentary summer recess with victims or victims' groups on the contaminated blood inquiry. Bishop James Jones, former Chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and Chair of the Gosport Independent Panel, had a telephone meeting with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood and a number of the campaign groups on 27 July. Following this meeting, the Bishop informed the Department of the request to remove the 18 August deadline for views on the format and scope of the upcoming independent inquiry. The Government has therefore decided to extend the deadline to 18 October 2017, to ensure that we hear as many opinions as possible.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will list the people and organisations that those people represent who attended the meeting of 20 July 2017 to discuss setting up an inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The following organisations were invited to the meeting on 20 July 2017:
- The Haemophilia Society;
- Haemophilia Wales;
- Haemophilia Scotland;
- The Irish Haemophilia Society;
- The Hepatitis C Trust;
- The Tainted Blood Campaign;
- The Contaminated Blood Campaign; and
- The Birchgrove Group.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will list the (a) people and (b) organisations who were invited to the roundtable meeting on the contaminated blood inquiry on 20 July 2017.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The following organisations were invited to the meeting on 20 July 2017:
- The Haemophilia Society;
- Haemophilia Wales;
- Haemophilia Scotland;
- The Irish Haemophilia Society;
- The Hepatitis C Trust;
- The Tainted Blood Campaign;
- The Contaminated Blood Campaign; and
- The Birchgrove Group.