4. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services: Update on the UK Inquiry on Infected Blood

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:54 pm on 13 March 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:54, 13 March 2018

Yes, you're right, it has been a long campaign, thinking back to the days when I was an even younger man—even younger: no grey hairs in my beard—when this place was first created. The campaign has been going on for a very long time. As Julie Morgan indicated, when the founder Members were gone, the campaign had to be restarted. Julie is perfectly right that a number of people have mentioned Lynne Kelly and the work that she has done—again, a good example of someone who has not been afraid to be difficult, from time to time, to make sure that the issue doesn't get forgotten—and the incredible commitment of individuals to make sure that the issue doesn't get forgotten and overtaken by history and no longer matters. A lot of people are still living with what happened, and living with the legacy, directly as individuals, or their families, certainly, as well. I know that most of us, if not all of us, in this room will have constituents who have been affected. I certainly do, and I think that almost everyone in this room would find someone as well. Again, people like Julie Morgan and others who are still in Parliament now will continue to campaign for this issue, and, again, it is a strength that it is a genuine cross-party campaign that has been mounted.

On the meeting with Haemophilia Wales, of course, I expect officials to continue to meet with Lynne Kelly and Haemophilia Wales. I expect to meet them again before the Government responds to the terms of reference of the consultation too. That's consistent with the way that we have tried to behave over a number of years, but in particular since I have been in post. We have tried to make sure that we talk and listen. It doesn't mean that we have always agreed on every single issue, but we've listened. Bereavement support is a good example of an area where we changed original proposals in our scheme to make sure that people recently bereaved receive more support. That was a deliberate choice that we made because there was such a strong and uniform view, including by people who weren't directly affected—they though that that was the right way to try and make sure that the money was prioritised in supporting people. So, supporting people is where we started from on that particular part of the journey. It's the way we ought to continue to behave as we continue to move towards the formal hearings of this inquiry. But, progress to date—and I'm sure we'll look forward to hearing more active progress once Justice Langstaff starts properly, once the terms of reference have been agreed.