9. Will the Minister provide an update on what the Welsh Government is doing to support victims of the contaminated blood scandal? OAQ53972

Yes, and thank you for the question. Through the Welsh infected blood support scheme the Welsh Government provides a comprehensive package of not only ex gratia payments but extensive wraparound support that includes psychological support, benefit advice and support and signposting to other public services that we provide across Wales.   

The Minister will be aware that the BBC reported the case of Kirk Ellis from Caerphilly, who contracted hepatitis C when he was a toddler, and it first came to light he had that when he was 13. He receives £18,500 a year in compensation. In April, the Prime Minister announced that patients in England would receive an extra £10,000. That would not apply to patients affected in Wales. It isn't fair that the 175 people in Wales with haemophilia who were infected in the 1970s and 1980s get less financial help than in England and Scotland. Health—although it's a devolved matter, Kirk Ellis recognises that this happened before devolution, during the UK Government's watch, and that they should be responsible for making payments. But, whatever happens, this needs to be resolved, and I'd like to know what the Minister is doing to get this issue resolved and ensure that fair payments are happening across the United Kingdom.

Yes. I've seen the interviews that your constituent has given, and he does recognise, as you say, that this happened pre-devolution, and you would ordinarily expect the UK Government to take on continuing responsibility for what was a real scandal undertaken, over many decades, where people were innocently infected and their whole life has been affected. I was disappointed that the UK Department for Health, on the day that the inquiry finally started, announced an entirely new payment system only for English residents, without any kind of notice or discussion with Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, that ran contrary to previous agreements and discussions that had taken place, because there are differences in the support schemes that are available across the United Kingdom. I think it would be sensible if we could come to the point where we had a support system that was consistent across the United Kingdom. That requires the four Governments to work together. That was given to us before the inquiry started, and then a surprise announcement was made. Our officials, though, do continue to talk, and there's a meeting due to take place between officials in the next week, and we are looking to have a date when UK Ministers can discuss these matters together—from each of the three Governments, Ministers, and a representative from the Northern Ireland Government as well—before the end of summer recess, because I do want to make progress, and I certainly don't want to leave this issue to carry on with an annual competition between the four Governments, rather some sense and sensibility to recognise we need to support the people who have been affected, because there's still quite a lot of their life to be lived.

Thank you, Minister.

A point of order in relation to questions, Mark Reckless.

Llywydd, previously groups of four or more Members have been allowed the same number of questions as have larger groups. When the education Minister led a group of five that was embedded in the Cardiff Bay consensus, there was no question of cutting back their number of questions. Now it's the Brexit Party you want to cut us back to only a quarter of the number of questions of other groups. Presiding Officer, won't people conclude that you are biased as part of the remain establishment?

I was going to thank you for giving me notice of the point of order, and for our discussions on this matter earlier this week, but I probably won't thank you after that contribution. Just to reiterate, as I did in our meeting earlier this week, that the allocation of leaders' and spokespeople questions is at the discretion of the Chair, and I've decided to give the brand new Brexit Party group the same allocation as the UKIP group had most recently. Allocations reflect the general balance and are not an exact science or a pro-rata calculation. So, it'll be my responsibility to ensure that your group has a fair, general allocation of time across questions. But to do that I need to point out to you that I can only call your Members if they make requests to ask questions, and, for the record, for Members, I received no such requests from the Brexit Party today.

You told us we couldn't—only three.