Parliament Hears Infected Blood Inquiry Update

Mr Speaker, the Infected Blood Inquiry's Additional Report was published on 9th July. Today, I would like to provide the House with an initial response to that report.

I am grateful to Sir Brian Langstaff for seeking justice for victims of the Infected Blood Scandal and for the Inquiry's constructive Additional Report. His ambition to ensure that fair compensation is provided to every person that is eligible without delay resonates across the country.

Delivery progress

Mr Speaker, before considering the detail of the report, I wanted to share the latest statistics from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority. As of 15 July, IBCA has contacted 2,215 people to begin their claim for compensation, with 1,934 having started the claim process. 808 offers of compensation have been made, with a total value of over £602 million. 587 people have accepted their offer and received payment, with over £411 million paid in compensation. This means approximately 60% of infected people registered with a support scheme have been contacted to begin their claim.

I am pleased that progress is being made, but I acknowledge the calls from the community highlighting the need for faster payment. This is why the Government wrote to the Public Accounts and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committees last month outlining the steps we are taking to remove administrative barriers to allow IBCA to speed up payments.

I am also pleased to announce further interim payments of £210,000 to the estates of infected people who were registered to an infected blood support scheme and have sadly passed away. This is in addition to the over 500 interim payments of £100,00 already paid to estates. I will provide further information on this as soon as I am able, including on timelines for applications opening.

Additional Report Recommendations

Mr Speaker, the Government is committed to providing fair compensation to victims of the infected blood scandal, and in the Autumn Budget we set aside £11.8 billion to do just that. The Inquiry has recognised the Government's commitment, saying 'there can be no doubt that the Government has done right in ways which powerfully signal its intent.'

However, I agree with Sir Brian's statement that 'there is still more to be done to ensure that the detail and operation of the scheme matches up to its intent'.

Sir Brian has made a number of recommendations on ways the compensation scheme could be amended to achieve a scheme which works for everyone. We will publish an update on gov.uk today setting out the Government's approach to the Inquiry's further recommendations. I will deposit a copy of that update in the House libraries. We will also provide a comprehensive response to all the recommendations in due course.

The report includes several recommendations for IBCA on speed and transparency. I want to first reiterate that the Government still expects IBCA to contact all registered infected people to begin a claim, and to open the service for affected people, by the end of this year and the announcements I'm about to make do not change that position.

On Friday, Sir Robert Francis and David Foley confirmed they will be accepting the recommendations the Inquiry made to IBCA. They have committed to working with the community to develop plans for designing and implementing these recommendations.

IBCA will design and introduce a process for registration.

They will also update their sequencing in line with the Inquiry's recommendation, noting that this will inform the order in which they open up to cohorts this year.

IBCA will introduce a process for prioritisation, recognising that community involvement is needed in tackling any uncertainty which this may introduce.

Alongside this, I have asked for a review of IBCA's delivery of the scheme to ensure that it is progressing as quickly as possible. This will be supported by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, NISTA, and led by an independent reviewer. I expect the review to begin in August.

Now the Inquiry has made detailed recommendations across 9 key areas to ensure that infected and affected people feel that they have, overall, been compensated fairly, by a scheme that is designed and delivered with their input. Separate to the delivery of compensation by IBCA, the Inquiry has made recommendations relating to the design and structure of the scheme. Seven of these sub-recommendations, the Government will accept and implement as soon as we can, so that IBCA can get on with paying compensation. Others will require engagement with the community before changes are made, in line with the spirit of the Inquiry's report.

Now when I gave evidence to the Inquiry in May, I said that I would take a constructive approach and look at the issues which had been put to me. The Inquiry has made eight sub-recommendations in these areas. I am pleased to confirm that I am either accepting these, or agreeing with the Inquiry that the community should be consulted on next steps.

So I can confirm that we will remove the 1982 start date for HIV infection, to ensure anyone infected due to infected blood or blood products with HIV is eligible for the scheme, regardless of infection date.

We accept the Inquiry's recommendation on affected estates; in fact, Mr. Speaker, we are going further than their recommendation. The Inquiry recommended that where someone who would be an eligible affected person sadly died or dies between 21 May 2024 and 31 December 2029, their claim will not die with them but becomes part of their estate. I am actually going to extend that period by an extra two years, to 31 December 2031.

The Special Category Mechanism, I know has been a concern for members of the community and this House. I am pleased to say that we accept change is needed to acknowledge SCM as part of the supplementary route Severe Health Condition Award, and we will be engaging the community on how to best realise these changes.

Another area I committed to consider was to reinstate support payments to partners bereaved after 31 March 2025 until they receive their compensation. We are accepting this recommendation, and will ensure that those impacted will also be able to continue receiving those payments as part of their compensation package.

The issue of unethical research is one of the most shocking aspects of this scandal. I can confirm that we will be consulting on revising the approach for the additional autonomy award on unethical research, including the scope and value of the award.

The final area I said I would consider was whether further supplementary routes for affected people could be introduced. The Inquiry recommended we consult to understand the feasibility of how these could be implemented, alongside changes regarding the exceptional financial loss award. I agree with the Inquiry that consideration should be given to these issues, and that consideration rightly involves those impacted.

In addition, we are accepting further Inquiry recommendations to remove the requirement for evidence of the date of diagnosis of Hepatitis B or C, which we hope may allow claims for those mono-infected with hepatitis to be processed more quickly.

By accepting these recommendations today, we can start to implement the necessary changes as soon as possible.

There are several recommendations on areas where changes to the Scheme are needed. We intend to engage the community on how to best achieve them. The Inquiry is clear: people impacted by decisions need to be involved in them. That is what we will seek to do before implementing these changes to the scheme.

This includes acting on recommendations regarding compensation for the impacts of Interferon. We will introduce a new core route infection severity band for those who received interferon treatment, and consult on the evidence requirements and threshold for a supplementary route award for severe psychological harm.

Additionally, we will work with IBCA to introduce a mechanism that individuals can use to raise concerns to aid continuous improvement of the Scheme.

I'm sure honourable members will understand that to do this the Government will need to make further regulations. Our top priority is to move quickly, so to make some of the simpler changes we will bring forward a set of regulations as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

These regulations will not implement all the policy changes recommended by the Inquiry. In evidence to the Inquiry in May, I said that I was open to changes that do not lead to further delays. I believe that by making these changes recommended by the Inquiry it will not delay the speed at which offers are currently being made.

A further set of regulations will be needed to implement the more substantial changes, particularly those where we are taking time to engage the community on how those updates can be realised. Therefore, we expect this second, more substantial set of regulations, to be brought before Parliament in 2026. But, we do not expect that this engagement will cause delays to the rollout of the compensation scheme as it currently stands which is absolutely crucial as I said to the Inquiry.

Mr. Speaker, we are responding swiftly and constructively to Sir Brian, and putting the voices - and needs - of the community first.

Progress on Inquiry's 2024 Report

Mr Speaker, I would also like to provide a further update on the Government's response to the Inquiry's 2024 report. I have continued to engage with the charities named by the Inquiry in recommendation 10. I recognise their concerns about the allocated funding and can confirm that the Department for Health and Social Care is re-examining funding for this year and will look at options for the future.

With regard to recommendation 2, on memorialisation, I am pleased to announce that, following engagement with the community, Clive Smith has been appointed as the Chair of the Memorial Committee. I am delighted to be able to appoint a Chair with his wealth of experience. I am confident he will be able to bring the community together to make great progress on this work.

Mr Speaker, this Government has made progress on implementing the recommendations made by this Inquiry. But progress is never a foregone conclusion. Sir Brian is clear about the importance of scrutinising progress in delivering what the Government has committed. I agree. Therefore, I am pleased to confirm that I have asked PACAC to take on the role of scrutinising implementation of the Inquiry's recommendations in both the May 2024 and July 2025 reports. It is for the Committee to outline how they approach this work but I trust that they will see fit to follow the example of the Inquiry thorough scrutiny of the design and delivery of compensation to the community.

In addition, today I am publishing a record of Inquiry recommendations and the government response on gov.uk, as promised in our response to the recommendation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. These records will be periodically updated to show implementation progress, and will include all recommendations of future inquiries.

Mr Speaker, to conclude I would like to quote directly from Sir Brian's report, where he ends by stating that 'truly involving people infected and affected in how the state recognises their losses would start to turn the page on the past'.

He is absolutely right. Our focus as we move forward must be working together with the community, with IBCA, and indeed with each other in this House to not only deliver justice to all those impacted, but essentially, to restore trust in the state to people who have been let down too many times.

I commend this statement to the House.