Public Inquiry

Minister to meet campaign groups

Written by Jessica Bomford, December 4, 2024

Campaign groups, including the Haemophilia Society, have been invited to a meeting on 11 December with Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister with responsibility for implementing the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendations.

A total of 31 groups have been invited to meet the minister. The groups have been divided into five groups, with meetings scheduled to last for 45 minutes each.

The Haemophilia Society’s meeting will begin at 1pm. Other groups in the same meeting are Haemophilia Scotland, Haemophilia NI, Haemophilia Wales, the Scottish Infected Blood Forum and Friends and Family of Haemophilia NI. The meeting will take place virtually.

We do not believe that 45 minutes is sufficient to discuss the range of issues raised by our infected and affected members about the government’s compensation scheme. We will be asking for further meetings to expand on some of the key concerns.

Lack of progress on compensation and confusion around payments was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions today by Clive Efford MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood. He asked Sir Keir Starmer to ensure that the meeting on 11 December represented the start of serious engagement between the Cabinet Office and the infected blood community.

Separately, we are also hoping to have a technical briefing from the Cabinet Office in response to concerns over the documentation needed to apply for interim compensation payments to estates.

We will update you as soon as we have more information.