Last week, The Infected Blood Inquiry held hearings to explore the timeliness and adequacy of the Government’s response to compensation. This is following a significant amount of public concern from the infected blood community.
Four sessions took place across two days, with the first comprising a panel of people infected and affected, campaigners and organisations. Panellists provided forensic insight into the many issues with the compensation scheme, as well as recommendations as how to address them. Also discussed was the unacceptably slow rate at which people are being allowed to make claims, as well as the lack of community engagement in the design of the scheme.
The afternoon saw Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office Cabinet Office Nick Thomas-Symonds challenged on the approach the Government has taken, and when pressed on issues of fairness and scheme design, he agreed to go away and consider some of the suggestions made.
The Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s (IBCA) Chair Sir Robert Francis and CEO David Foley were questioned at the start of day two on IBCA’s operations, discussing the speed of claim processing and community engagement.
James Quinault, Director General in the Cabinet Office provided evidence in the final session of the hearings. He was asked to explain the previous Government’s decision making in the first steps of the scheme’s design, and was also pushed both on fine details of how we see the scheme today, and as to why community engagement has been so minimal throughout this process.
We’ll provide a more detailed update on the hearings soon.