2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:31 pm on 23 October 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Julie Morgan Julie Morgan Labour 2:31, 23 October 2018

It's emerged over the weekend that more than 1,200 people who were infected with HIV as a result of contaminated blood, including 55 people in Wales, were pressurised into signing a waiver before getting ex gratia payments from the UK Government, and, after that, were then told that they also had hepatitis C. So, these people and their families—and, in Wales, 40 of those 55 have since died—are currently precluded from taking any further action, any legal action, although, thanks to Haemophilia Wales and the cross-party group's submission to the inquiry, the issue is included in the public inquiry's terms of reference. So, what can the Welsh Government do to ensure that the survivors, and the family members who have lost loved ones to HIV and hepatitis C, who signed this waiver in 1990, can also take part in this public inquiry into contaminated blood, which, of course, the victims have at least succeeded in getting off the ground? And can the Welsh Government also ensure that all necessary documents related to the HIV litigation, which are held by the Secretary of State for Wales and the Welsh Office, which was then the licensing authority, are disclosed to the inquiry? And I don't know whether the leader of the house is able to answer with those responses, or whether we ought to have a fuller statement at some point.