To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether an equality impact assessment has been undertaken of the eligibility criteria for the proposed Special Category Mechanism.
Cabinet Office
The Government launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme on 30 October 2025 that ran for the standard 12 weeks and closed on 22 January. This consultation adhered to the Cabinet Office Consultation Princi...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the consultation undertaken on the proposed Special Category Mechanism was assessed against (a) the Gunning Principles and (b) the Cabinet Office Consultation Principles, including requirements relating
Cabinet Office
The Government launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme on 30 October 2025 that ran for the standard 12 weeks and closed on 22 January. This consultation adhered to the Cabinet Office Consultation Princi...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Government’s proposed Special Category Mechanism on access to enhanced awards and appeals for infected and affected people, including individuals who we
Cabinet Office
The Government launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme on 30 October 2025 that ran for the standard 12 weeks and closed on 22 January. This consultation adhered to the Cabinet Office Consultation Princi...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure that the Infected Blood Compensation Authority claims process is accessible to people whose historic NHS records are missing or partially redacted.
Cabinet Office
The Scheme has been designed to minimise as far as possible the burden on those applying, and as set out in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2024, eligibility for the Scheme will be determined based on the balance of probabilities. The I...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 10 October, to Question 71230, on Cabinet Office: Calder Conferences, what the specific event was for each of the individual room hires since 4 April 2025 other than Civil Service Live
Cabinet Office
As stated in my previous answer to Question 71230, to provide additional background information on each booking would incur disproportionate costs as this information is not centrally held.
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 85742 on Infected Blood Inquiry, when he expects the report for the Infected Blood Inquiry for the financial year 2024-2025 to be published.
Cabinet Office
The Infected Blood Inquiry 2024-25 financial report was published on 6 November, the same day that the audited figures were approved for publication. The report can be found here: https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/about/financial-reports
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85743 on Infected Blood Inquiry, how much remuneration the Chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry receives for his work on that inquiry each year.
Cabinet Office
The Chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry has been paid at the level of a High Court judge, except that he has declined any pension as a result of his work for the Inquiry. The Ministry of Justice publishes the judicial salaries each year. The Chair of the ...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take legislative steps to require public sector organisations to publish reports on (a) internal culture, (b) risk management and (c) the implementation of inquiry recommendations.
Cabinet Office
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill is currently progressing through parliament. The legislation will include a requirement that all public bodies establish a professional duty of candour for staff set out within a wider code of ethics. This obligatio...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department made of the potential impact of a legal duty to implement public enquiry recommendations on public trust in government.
Cabinet Office
Public inquiries are independent of Government and can make recommendations of their choosing. Government takes the recommendations of inquiries very seriously, and determines which recommendations it accepts. To ensure clarity and transparency of progres...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Financial Reports for the Infected Blood Inquiry for the financial year 2024-2025 will be published.
Cabinet Office
Published costs for the Infected Blood Inquiry can be found on the inquiry webpage. The latest financial report was published on 27 August 2024. Additionally, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority has published an annual report enclosing a financial ...
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to hold discussions with leaders of mental health services on meeting the requirements of the statutory duty of candour.
Department of Health and Social Care
The Government is supportive of the review it inherited into the effectiveness of the statutory duty of candour for health and social care providers. Our aim is to ensure that all providers, including mental health trusts, and their leaders act upon the d...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 August 2025 to Question 62335 on Senior Civil Service: Training, if he will list the external venues that have been authorised for hire since 4 April 2025; and the cost for each hire
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office’s contract with Calder Conferences Limited to provide Venue Booking Services started in February 2023, under the previous administration. The below table lists the venues and costs of venues booked by the Cabinet Office through Calder C...
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the NHS on its policy of informing Sickle Cell patients when they are not given Ro matched blood.
Department of Health and Social Care
DHSC are working in partnership with NHS Blood and Transplant, NHS England and the National Blood Transfusion Committee to deliver on the recommendations detailed in the infected blood inquiry, which includes improving digital patient records and communic...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2025 to Question 64560 on Cabinet Office: Contracts, what venues have been booked through Calder Conferences since 4 July 2024; for what purpose; and at what cost.
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office’s contract with Calder Conferences Limited to provide Venue Booking Services started in February 2023, under the previous administration. The below table lists the venues and costs of venues booked by the Cabinet Office through Calder C...
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Cabinet Office
As I set out in my Oral Statement to the House on 21 July, the Government will be bringing forward a further set of regulations as soon as Parliamentary time allows to implement the recommendations we have already accepted. The Government will be consulti...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the differing compensation payments for deceased infected blood scandal victims based on whether they contracted HIV or Hepatitis C.
Cabinet Office
The impact of a Hepatitis infection can range from very mild to very severe, including liver failure and death as a direct result of the infection. In its second interim report, the Infected Blood Inquiry recommended that the compensation scheme should re...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's policy paper, Infected Blood Inquiry Additional Report Government Response, published on 30 July 2025, what is the estimated cost of delivering those recommendations.
Cabinet Office
The policy decisions that the Government announced on 21 July, and included in the Government Response on 30 July, are currently estimated to cost around £1 billion in further compensation payments. However, the total cost could change depending on what i...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the differing compensation payments for infected blood scandal victims based on whether they contracted HIV or Hepatitis C.
Cabinet Office
The impact of a Hepatitis infection can range from very mild to very severe, including liver failure and death as a direct result of the infection. In its second interim report, the Infected Blood Inquiry recommended that the compensation scheme should re...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department's planned timetable is for responding to the Additional Report by the Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 9 July 2025.
Cabinet Office
I am grateful to Sir Brian Langstaff for his constructive Additional Report. We share his ambition to ensure that fair compensation is provided to every person that is eligible without delay.On 21st July, I delivered an oral statement to the House confirm...
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To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the delays in the compensation payments which are due to those affected by infected blood following the Infected Blood Inquiry; and who is responsible for them.
Cabinet Office
The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). IBCA has opened the service to those who are living with infection, registered with a support scheme, and prioritising those who are nearing the end of their li...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is planning to take to (a) consult further with the infected blood community and (b) involve that community in the development of the Government's response to the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Cabinet Office
This Government is committed to engaging openly and transparently, and taking on board feedback from the infected blood community. The Cabinet Office regularly engages with over 30 key representatives and organisations in the community. I have met with a ...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on compensation for people impacted by infected blood and also by variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Cabinet Office
In his 2022 Compensation Framework Study, Sir Robert Francis recommended that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was not included in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. He noted that “this is a rare disease for which there is a separate compensa...
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of people with Hepatitis B who are entitled to compensation from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.
Cabinet Office
While there is no way of knowing exactly how many people were infected as a result of this scandal, the findings of the Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from ...
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To ask His Majesty's Government how many victims of contaminated blood in the UK were infected with hepatitis D in addition to hepatitis B; and how this has affected their prognosis.
Department of Health and Social Care
The work undertaken so far to address the issues regarding contaminated blood in the United Kingdom has been related to the hepatitis C and HIV infections.The Infected Blood Inquiry, in its Expert Report to the Infected Blood Inquiry: Statistics noted in ...
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