Contributions
1,092 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI am conscious of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker’s admonitions about speed, so I will be brief. The Government will need to reflect carefully on the very detailed evidence that…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsYes, Mr Speaker, just two paragraphs left. I apologise if I have run over. I was saying that my colleagues and I are keenly aware of this reality. After all, it was this…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsMy officials are working hard on this matter with the Department of Health and Social Care and across Whitehall. There are 19 recommendations, and we had Sir Robert Francis’s very…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsThe whole matter is still being considered. There are 19 recommendations, and my officials are working hard across Whitehall on the matter. It is unfair and inaccurate to…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsMy right hon. Friend’s point, and the strength of it, is noted.19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI cannot speak exactly to my hon. Friend’s point, but the general point he makes is a good one. There are issues across Whitehall and across Government that need to be addressed…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsThe hon. Gentleman makes his point with characteristic eloquence, and my heart goes out to his constituent in that appalling example. That is one of many tragic examples in this…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI am very conscious of the passage of time from when the infected blood issue began many, many years ago—decades ago—and the inquiry that was begun by my right hon. Friend the…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI cannot, at this moment, prejudge the ultimate decisions on this matter, but I can say that the matter has my full attention and the full attention of officials across…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI hope I can relay, and have relayed, to the House my feelings on the matter, which I am sure are the same as feelings across this House. This is not a party political issue. It…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI am sorry, but the hon. Lady’s question is unworthy. It is completely wrong to characterise anyone as waiting for people to pass on. That does not do justice to the gravamen of…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsAs soon as is reasonably possible.19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI accept the premise that time is of the essence, and the point that the hon. Gentleman eloquently makes about each day that passes. I am very conscious of that, as are those…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsI hope the right hon. Gentleman will accept from me that the matter is complex, and that things are interconnected—I use that word advisedly—across Government, which makes them…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsIt is well understood that the matter is urgent and important. It is also understood that it is complex and interconnected. I assure the hon. Lady that questions such as this in…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsIt is not a matter of prejudice. The Government have a responsibility to work these systems effectively and correctly, and they have to make decisions based on the complexity and…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsIt is not as though the Government are waiting; the Government are working, across Whitehall, to produce results in the matter. There is no dilatoriness here; there is expedition…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for VictimsMy hon. Friend’s eloquent point is noted and will be relayed.19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillIf I may, I will make a little more progress. Clause 9 provides a Minister with the powers to make provisions through secondary legislation to ensure the effective working of the…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillThe first thing to state clearly is that no business will be forced to do anything. They will not be obliged to choose one over the other. It will be up to businesses to do that.…19 Jul 2022