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.

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.

My noble friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women's Health and Mental Health (Baroness Merron) has made the following Written Statement

I am pleased to inform the House that the first patients in England have now received life-saving plasma derived medicines made from UK donor plasma for the...

My noble friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women's Health and Mental Health (Baroness Merron) has made the following Written Statement

I am pleased to inform the House that the first patients in England have now received life-saving plasma derived medicines made from UK donor plasma for the...

I am pleased to inform the House that the first patients in England have now received life-saving plasma derived medicines made from UK donor plasma for the first time in over 25 years. This will boost self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imports from abroad.

Blood plasma medicines are critical for approximately...

I am pleased to inform the House that the first patients in England have now received life-saving plasma derived medicines made from UK donor plasma for the first time in over 25 years. This will boost self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imports from abroad.

Blood plasma medicines are critical for approximately...

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the reliability of diagnostic testing of blood samples for vCJD.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the reliability of diagnostic testing of blood samples for vCJD.

My Hon Friend the Minister of State for Care (Helen Whately) has made the following statement:

I would like to inform the House that the Government has decided to allow the use of UK sourced plasma for the manufacture of immunoglobulins.

In the wake of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in...

My Hon Friend the Minister of State for Care (Helen Whately) has made the following statement:

I would like to inform the House that the Government has decided to allow the use of UK sourced plasma for the manufacture of immunoglobulins.

In the wake of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in...

I would like to inform the House that the Government has decided to allow the use of UK sourced plasma for the manufacture of immunoglobulins.

In the wake of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in the 1990s, a number of extra precautionary safety measures were introduced to protect patients from...

I would like to inform the House that the Government has decided to allow the use of UK sourced plasma for the manufacture of immunoglobulins.

In the wake of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in the 1990s, a number of extra precautionary safety measures were introduced to protect patients from...

I would like to inform the House that the Government, along with the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, will be updating some specific variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) precautionary measures in England, Scotland and Wales.

In 2004, the Government was advised to establish precautionary vCJD risk reduction measures in the UK,...

I would like to inform the House that the Government, along with the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, will be updating some specific variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) precautionary measures in England, Scotland and Wales.

In 2004, the Government was advised to establish precautionary vCJD risk reduction measures in the UK,...

My Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Care (Caroline Dinenage) has made the following written statement:

I would like to inform the House that the Government, along with the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, will be updating some specific variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) precautionary measures in England, Scotland and...

My Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Care (Caroline Dinenage) has made the following written statement:

I would like to inform the House that the Government, along with the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, will be updating some specific variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) precautionary measures in England, Scotland and...

I am delighted to see the Minister in her place, and I am sure that she is delighted to be here—or at least she is trying to smile under the circumstances. She has probably been made aware of my long-term interest in, and deep concern about, this subject. I am...

I am delighted to see the Minister in her place, and I am sure that she is delighted to be here—or at least she is trying to smile under the circumstances. She has probably been made aware of my long-term interest in, and deep concern about, this subject. I am...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on making such a compelling case for those with CJD. In 2001 the Government set some money aside for a compensation scheme for UK victims of variant CJD. A trust fund was set up in April 2001 and compensation payments of £25,000 were made to...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on making such a compelling case for those with CJD. In 2001 the Government set some money aside for a compensation scheme for UK victims of variant CJD. A trust fund was set up in April 2001 and compensation payments of £25,000 were made to...

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, but what I would really like to do is get the Government to take some action that is sitting, waiting, readily available to prevent it; otherwise, in time to come I believe we are going to have a chance of a considerable flood...

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, but what I would really like to do is get the Government to take some action that is sitting, waiting, readily available to prevent it; otherwise, in time to come I believe we are going to have a chance of a considerable flood...

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) on securing this important debate on variant CJD and surgery. It is clearly an area on which he has a great deal of knowledge. I recognise that prion disease is the causative agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies...

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) on securing this important debate on variant CJD and surgery. It is clearly an area on which he has a great deal of knowledge. I recognise that prion disease is the causative agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies...

I am a little worried that the Minister appears to accept that surgical procedures are as good as they can be, given that the Department is inviting research to find a RelyOn equivalent in order to improve the situation. The Department must therefore see a flaw in what we have...

I am a little worried that the Minister appears to accept that surgical procedures are as good as they can be, given that the Department is inviting research to find a RelyOn equivalent in order to improve the situation. The Department must therefore see a flaw in what we have...

My hon. Friend anticipates my next words as only an experienced Member of Parliament can do. I think it is right to say that there has so far been no evidence of any secondary, person-to-person, vCJD transmissions via surgery or dentistry. Nevertheless, we are maintaining and updating our precautionary approach....

My hon. Friend anticipates my next words as only an experienced Member of Parliament can do. I think it is right to say that there has so far been no evidence of any secondary, person-to-person, vCJD transmissions via surgery or dentistry. Nevertheless, we are maintaining and updating our precautionary approach....

I accept everything that my hon. Friend says. However, a test solution is on the market and waiting to come through. The Prion Unit test has reached the point at which it just needs a final run to ensure that it does come through. I hope that I can count...

I accept everything that my hon. Friend says. However, a test solution is on the market and waiting to come through. The Prion Unit test has reached the point at which it just needs a final run to ensure that it does come through. I hope that I can count...

That is one reason why the Department has continued in difficult financial times to ring-fence £5.5 million a year for CJD-related research.

We are keen to see safe, evidence-based, cost-effective measures to reduce the risk of vCJD. At the moment, however, there is no validated diagnostic blood test that can...

That is one reason why the Department has continued in difficult financial times to ring-fence £5.5 million a year for CJD-related research.

We are keen to see safe, evidence-based, cost-effective measures to reduce the risk of vCJD. At the moment, however, there is no validated diagnostic blood test that can...

In my intervention on the hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford), I asked whether compensation should be increased because of the number of years since the agreement was first made. With great respect and humbleness, I ask the Minister whether the Government would consider that.

In my intervention on the hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford), I asked whether compensation should be increased because of the number of years since the agreement was first made. With great respect and humbleness, I ask the Minister whether the Government would consider that.

The scheme is considered to be particularly effective. I shall look at it in the light of the hon. Gentleman’s comments, but it seems to be meeting current concerns. It is also important not to overstate the risks of CJD compared with other disease threats we face. The incidence is...

The scheme is considered to be particularly effective. I shall look at it in the light of the hon. Gentleman’s comments, but it seems to be meeting current concerns. It is also important not to overstate the risks of CJD compared with other disease threats we face. The incidence is...