The design and implementation of the scheme to support those affected by the issues caused by the contaminated blood scandal in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter. It is therefore not appropriate for me to make any assessment or judgment as to the approach taken, though I understand that, in December 2016, the Northern Ireland Health Minister at the time announced increased financial support for people affected by contaminated blood prior to September 1991.<\/p>
<\/p>
As to the public inquiry announced in July, I and my officials have remained in close contact with Government colleagues to facilitate discussions with the Northern Ireland Civil Service and with key stakeholders on the subject. Most importantly I know that those affected in Northern Ireland were made aware of the process, in particular the extension to the period of consultation to 18 October. More than 800 written responses across the United Kingdom were received and will be analysed thoroughly by the Cabinet Office, to whom responsibility for setting up the independent inquiry has transferred from the Department of Health.<\/p>
<\/p>
As my Rt Honourable Friend the First Secretary of State made clear in his written statement on 3 November, this process will be taken forward as a full statutory public inquiry, created under the 2005 Inquiries Act, and a further announcement will follow before the end of the year on the next steps.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1530", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for James Brokenshire"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Old Bexley and Sidcup"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "James Brokenshire"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-11-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "111923"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-11-13T16:03:21.643Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "21"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Northern Ireland"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Northern Ireland"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-11-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Blood: Contamination"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what representations he has received from the (a) Regional Business Services Organisation, (b) former North Irish Executive and (c) Northern Irish political, parties on the (i) inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal and (ii) ex-gratia support for people so affected by that scandal.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1533", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Kingston upon Hull North"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Diana Johnson"} ], "uin" : "111924"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }