Browse content similar to 28/04/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Thursday In Parliament, are a look at the best | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
of the day in the Commons and the Lords. On this programme, conspiracy | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
theories strike the Commons. A leading campaigner for the British | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
exit from the EU accuses ministers of doing deals to keep in with the | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
trade unions. Mr Speaker, this stinks. This weeks as cash for | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
questions. The row over anti-Semitism spills over into the | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
Commons. I am sick and tired of people trying to explain it away, | :00:49. | :00:49. | |
and yes, I am talking to you, Ken Livingstone. And | :00:50. | :01:06. | |
an MP talks about life with her son who has autism. The slightest change | :01:07. | :01:08. | |
in the house and all hell breaks loose. But first, the senior | :01:09. | :01:10. | |
Conservative, Bernard Jenkin, has criticised the Government for making | :01:11. | :01:12. | |
changes to the trade union Bill. Ministers had intended to bring in | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
new rules on strike ballots, membership fees and political | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
donations, but they have had a change of heart on many of these | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
issues, asking what is known as an urgent question, Bernard Jenkin said | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
that backtracking by ministers was out of line with what had been in | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
the Conservative manifesto at the general election. It is now being | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
reported on Channel 4 News and in today's papers that these unexpected | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
concessions are linked to the question of a ?1.7 million donation | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
the trade unions may make from their political funds which are now much | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
larger than they would have been to the Labour Three main campaign. He | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
referred to the former cabinet minister Alan Johnson, who chairs | :01:56. | :02:06. | |
Labour In For Britain. He was trying to raise ?75,000 for some balloons | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
and badges. Now they are getting ?1.7 billion. It has been confirmed | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
to me to more than two independent sources that number ten instructed | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
these concessions to be made after the discussions with trade union | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
representatives. This being true, would amount to the sale of | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
Government policy for cash and political figures. What would have | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
been the reaction if a Labour Government had changed a bill in | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
order to favour the Labour Party's ability to support the Government on | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
some controversial policy and to give it money? Mr Speaker, this | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
stinks. This weeks as the same as cash for questions. This shows this | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
Government really is at the rotten heart of the EU. But the banister -- | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
Business Minister said the bill was in the process of being batted | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
between the Commons at the Lords, sometimes called parliamentary | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
ping-pong. The trade union Bill is now in ping-pong. That is customary. | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
Ministers have held discussions with Shadow ministers to discuss possible | :03:09. | :03:10. | |
compromises that would secure passage of the bill and delivery of | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
the commitments made in the Conservative Party manifesto. On the | :03:16. | :03:17. | |
basis of the amendments passed by this out yesterday evening, I can | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
reassure my honourable friend that we are well on the way to securing | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
all of our manifesto commitments. Labour welcomed the changes of heart | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
by ministers. It would appear, at least partially, that the minister | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
listened. Well done. But he should have listened earlier, and he needs | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
to keep listening, actually. So can I ask you now to have a view more | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
meetings with trade unions? Who made entirely reasonable proposals on | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
online balloting and facility time that still remain in the bill. Mr | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
Speaker, there is still time for him to think again. These benches are in | :03:53. | :04:01. | |
complete opposition to the Trade Union Bill. Can the Minister confirm | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
that the change to a piece of legislation that affects 6 million | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
work use for the Government not to consult with those 6 million | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
workers. There would be concerned if as part of the ping-pong process any | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
Government at any time made concessions on a bill as a result of | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
something that had nothing to do with that bill. My friend Mike is an | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
honourable man and I'm sure he can confirm that no Government of which | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
he was able heart would ever do that. -- honourable friend. I would | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
just say to my right honourable friend that not every compromise is | :04:37. | :04:45. | |
a conspiracy. This is a shabby political episode where the | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
Government have been caught dilating trade union legislation to persuade | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
the true genius to come on-board with the campaign to stay in the EU. | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
Is it not now clear that the Government, big business, big banks, | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
the BBC and is now the big trade are all ganging up on the British people | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
to try to persuade them to stay in the EU? Now that the governments are | :05:06. | :05:16. | |
responding to this barmy idea and that the Government are seemingly | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
prepared to give way on different subjects, can I ask him what is the | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
price for dropping this lousy, rotten Trade Union Bill altogether? | :05:29. | :05:38. | |
Mr Speaker, it is the goal of my life to give pleasure to the | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
honourable gentleman, but I have two, I am afraid, tell him that | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
there is no price because we believe in this bill. We believe in our | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
manifesto, and we are well on our way to delivering it. Nic Bowles. | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
The crisis in the steel industry has come under scrutiny at a | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
parliamentary committee. Last month, the owners of the Port Talbot | :06:03. | :06:15. | |
steelworks put the steelworks up for sale. Many associated jobs are at | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
risk as well as the jobs of the Tata Steel workers. The chief executive | :06:20. | :06:31. | |
of Tata Steel UK has blamed high energy prices and business rates for | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
the company's decision to sell its assets. The cheer of the Commons | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
business committee asked about the timescale for sale. There is an | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
article in the Financial Times this morning. Tata Steel buyers told to | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
table offers by next week. The timescale seems a very, very short | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
to be able to allow potential buyers to be able to pull things together. | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
Why is the timetable so short? In fact, with the advisers that we have | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
and which are world renowned advisers, they do believe that this | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
is quite a liberal time frame compared to what administrators | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
would do. So for the purposes of the committee's understanding, could you | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
tell is the precise timescale? Are there particular milestones the | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
company has along the way and what of those deadlines that potential | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
buyers have to fulfil? We have indicated the time skills. I will | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
have to look at the exact timescale for the different stages of the | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
process, but there is no dead drop time that has been given, although | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
you will appreciate that with the kind of losses that are there, | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
urgency is important because we cannot continue to lose money. He | :07:43. | :07:50. | |
was asked about Tata Steel's pension liability. What are the liabilities | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
to the taxpayers should you determine that you can't any longer | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
support the business? I think we need to be aware that first of all | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
if this pension fund liability is not taking care of their is no buyer | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
sitting up there to buy this business. And if we don't solve that | :08:10. | :08:18. | |
problem, we are staring at some very, very bad consequences for the | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
taxpayers of the UK. The Business Secretary was asked about the same | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
issue. Do you agree there is a potential risk that the public purse | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
is left holding the baby in terms of the pensions liability? No. That is | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
not my focus. I don't think that is the big risk. What I do know is that | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
there are already discussions taking place between the trustees of the | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
pension plan, between the company, I know they have talked to the pension | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
regulator, and they are working on a solution. What I am keen to do and | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
we are involved in is striding to facilitate a solution in any way | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
that we can. You don't think it is a risk? I don't think that is the | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
major risk. She asked me about pensions. I can't be too detailed | :09:07. | :09:13. | |
about the discussions that are going on, but given my knowledge of this | :09:14. | :09:22. | |
-- the discussions, my focus is on how we can facilitate that but I do | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
not sit here thinking that that is a big risk. Ian Wright also pressed | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
the Business Secretary over why he had not gone to the Tata Steel board | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
meeting in Mobile in March at which the decision to sell the UK business | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
had been made. -- Mumbai. You look like you were really on the back | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
foot after that more my meeting and announcement, scrambling around and | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
looking to try to get the initiative rather than saying that we were | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
aware of this and have been working with Tata Steel as a company and it | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
is a secure transition to try to get a responsible seller. We saw none of | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
that in the aftermath of the meeting. If people are interested in | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
how things look, then that is a different issue. Business confidence | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
is important in terms of perception as well. Of course perception is | :10:09. | :10:16. | |
important, but frankly if my order -- if my and my advisers had turned | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
up just before the meeting, that would have been too late. What is | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
crucial is the work that is done before the meeting. If I want to | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
turn up for a photo opportunity before the meeting, that may look | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
great in the papers, but it would not have helped the workers of the | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
situation. The crisis in the steel industry. Well, the controversy over | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
anti-Semitism and the Labour Party has intensified over the last 24 | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
hours. An argument broke out inside the BBC premises in Westminster | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
between the Labour MP John Mann and the one-time Mayor of London, Ken | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
Livingstone. Go back and check what Hitler did. There is a book. | :10:54. | :11:04. | |
Factually wrong. Racist remarks. The heated argument followed remarks | :11:05. | :11:07. | |
made by Ken Livingstone and he defended the MP suspended this week | :11:08. | :11:18. | |
by the Labour Party Nas Shah, who was reprimanded for commenting that | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
is real should be moved to America. Ken Livingstone said that she had | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
not been racist. As Passover ends on Saturday, let me say again, as | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
clearly as I possibly can, anti-Semitism is wrong, end of | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
story. I am sick and tired of people trying to explain it away and yes, I | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
am talking to you, Ken Livingstone. Of course, the illegal settlements | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
are wrong and the Palestinians deserve a better deal. Of course, | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
rocket attacks on Jewish kibbutzim are wrong. It is no better when a | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
senior politician looks at the president of the United States of | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
America and only sees the colour of his skin and his part Kenyan | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
ancestry, when Tory candidates run a deliberately racially charged | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
campaign against Labour opponents. It is profoundly irresponsible and | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
offends the fundamental decency of the British people, so I hope I | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
speak for all sides of this house when I say racism and racial | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
prejudice are simply not welcome in our political system or in our | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
political parties. His opposite number focused on words used by the | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
Labour MP. There has been naivete on these benches this morning. A member | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
said this morning that she regarded the events as trial by Twitter and | :12:45. | :12:52. | |
likened the events as tweaking a picture of an MP on a zip wire. She | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
clearly does not understand the gravity of the situation. Despite | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
the wise words of the shadow leader, and I respect him for it, although I | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
profoundly disagree over what he said about my honourable friend, he | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
makes a powerful point. He is a beacon of sense in his party on | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
this, but where is the sense from the rest of these benches on what is | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
a deeply, deeply serious matter? Chris Grayling. You are watching our | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
round-up of the day in the Commons and the Lords. Still to come: MPs | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
discuss how to stop drones being a hazard to commercial aircraft. There | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
are more than half a million people with autism in the UK, according to | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
official figures. That is around one in every hundred people, and if you | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
include families, autism touches the daily lives of over 2 million | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
people. To mark World Autism Awareness Week, the Commons has | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
focused on aspects of dealing with the condition, the causes of which | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
are not known, that have been under investigation for yields. -- four | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
years. First, a Conservative spoke about | :13:58. | :14:08. | |
her son, who has Asperger's syndrome. It was evident to me that | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
my very bright and articulate boy was not like other boys of his age. | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
He had an extraordinary high level of concentration and high reading | :14:17. | :14:24. | |
skill and could converts with adults in a very unusual way. However, he | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
was also very anxious, fearful of bright lights and unable to cope | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
with anything unexpected in his day. Literally the slightest change in | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
the time we left the house and all hell broke loose. Many great artists | :14:37. | :14:45. | |
and writers have been on the spectrum, rather than those of us | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
who are typical... They are vital to our growth as a | :14:51. | :14:58. | |
nation both culturally and economically. The great Alan | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
cheering's genius brought us the computer, possibly the greatest leap | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
since the steam engine. -- Alan Turing. You read about his school | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
years and they were truly awful. He was misunderstood throughout his | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
life. We took a holiday to Disneyland Paris and the first few | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
years Cinderella was out and about and we took her to meet her and her | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
friends. But of course once she met the small characters, they were | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
bigger than her and she could simply not cope with that, it was not what | :15:33. | :15:35. | |
she had expected. Like other families, we spent the rest of the | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
holiday checking where the characters would be on each and | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
every day, to not to meet them but to find roots of avoiding them. | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
Suddenly we saw everything was not quite as it should be, particularly | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
taking him to things like swimming and football, and it is a very hard | :15:57. | :16:04. | |
moment when you see that diagnosis and there is no denying there is a | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
sense of anger, a sense of guilt, sometimes a sense of shame. But | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
there is also sometimes a sense of relief. For many parents they will | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
be looking for that diagnosis and that sense of relief that comes from | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
that. Of course there are big consequences for family life. There | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
is a lack of understanding of autism. Families face stigma and | :16:28. | :16:36. | |
stereotypes and the complexion of autism is not understood. People | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
with autism, high functioning people with autism, frequently have a high | :16:44. | :16:46. | |
degree of focus, meaning that they can spot patterns or errors in data | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
that are not readily recognised by other people. Making them attractive | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
to employers for software firms. Even people more significantly | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
affected by autism can also hold down jobs successfully, they often | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
benefit from working in highly structured working environments, | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
sometimes thriving on jobs of a repetitive nature. The debate to | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
mark World Autism Awareness Week. The Government has been urged to | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
regulate the use of drones after reports that a plane approaching | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
Heathrow Airport was struck by one. The Transport Secretary has told MPs | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
he was talking to the pilot's union BALPA and others but it is now | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
thought the incident did not involve a drone. MPs continued to raise | :17:35. | :17:41. | |
concerns. Shouldn't the Government hit the warning of Heathrow and | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
instead of the rather complacent position taken up realise the ten | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
shall for catastrophes by vandals or careless people using drones, but | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
the dreadful possibility of terrorists using drones on nuclear | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
power stations? Already drones are being used to sneak mobile phones | :18:02. | :18:08. | |
and drugs into Wandsworth prison. Shouldn't the Government wake up and | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
realise that this new menace is a potential great threat and take | :18:13. | :18:20. | |
precautions in order to reduce the universal access to drones that | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
exists now? Mr Speaker, there is no complacency whatsoever by the | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
Government on the use of drones. As I said, there is a prison sentence | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
which is available and that I will obviously keep the situation under | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
review. But it is also important to find out the facts behind certain | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
incidents. The incident that was reported on the 17th of April is now | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
thought that that was not a drone incident. There are growing concerns | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
about incidents involving drones which threaten public safety and it | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
is not very clear if it is a problem to do with regulations themselves or | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
the enforcement of those regulations. With the Secretary of | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
State look at those issues? I certainly will. -- would the | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
Secretary of State look at those issues? I certainly will. I had a | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
planned meeting with BALPA to discuss this and also laser pen use | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
and the problems that that is using for civil aviation in this country | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
and I certainly will keep these things very much under review and do | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
further work along with BALPA and the industry, the CAA, on drones and | :19:30. | :19:37. | |
drone use. Can my honourable friend assure me that all regulations and | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
guidance with regards to drones and air safety will apply and be | :19:43. | :19:44. | |
communicated to airports outside London? Such as East Midlands | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
Airport in my constituency, to make sure we have a consistent policy | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
with regard to air safety across the country. Yes, I think my honourable | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
friend gives a very good point, this is not just a matter for London | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
airports but any airports. It's also a matter of the airports outside | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
London, which are very important international connections right | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
across the country. Mr Speaker, I hear what the Transport Secretary is | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
saying about his engagement with airports but it's also an issue for | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
stadiums, railway stations and other places where the public gathering | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
huge numbers. Can he tell us what discussions he has had with the | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
widest possible range of stakeholders, including for example | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
local authorities on the use of drones? Well, Mr Speaker, the issue | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
that I was addressing in this country is in this question was | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
related to aviation. And that is the point that I have updated the house | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
on. Of course there are wider issues right across the Government and the | :20:46. | :20:48. | |
Government keeps these matters consistently under review. With the | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
ministers say in a written answer that he's not even going to consult | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
on anything until the European aviation agency has not decided | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
itself what to do? All of this while there are reports of drones hitting | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
aircraft and drones being and over London altogether when President | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
Obama is in town. Other countries have already brought in other | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
initiatives so when are we going to see some real proposals from the | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
Government without having to wait for a US president to come to town? | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
Mr Speaker, I think the point the honourable member made in his | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
question, he said it might have been. Governments don't legislate on | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
what might be, they act on what are the dangers. As I've said, we are in | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
discussions with BALPA, the airline pilots's union, as well as the CAA | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
as to the right way to develop this. If you will remember me saying all | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
drones should be banned completely, that is something they never thought | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
about when they were in office. Patrick McLoughlin. The Government | :21:55. | :21:56. | |
has been accused of blatant rationing of treatment for patients | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
with the blood-borne virus hepatitis C. The claim was in the Lords, as | :22:02. | :22:11. | |
peers called for more sufferers to be given a drug. ... Chronically | :22:12. | :22:22. | |
infected with hepatitis C virus. The deaths of cancer Jude to the virus | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
in under 60s doubled in the last decade. We have a treatment, a drug | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
that is effective in both successfully reducing the disease as | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
it reduces the viral load in 98% of patients treated to virtually zero | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
in the whole spectrum of the gene of the hepatitis C virus. It has the | :22:43. | :22:45. | |
potential to eradicate the disease in the population. In that scenario, | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
why would we only treat 10,000 patients per year, as the guidance | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
says, for the next two years? There are clear budgetary constraints | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
here. 220,000 people is the number that the Lord mentions, I thought it | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
was slightly lower, this may cost many tens of thousands of pounds per | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
treatment and clearly, however much we would like to treat 220,000 | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
people, it's just not feasible to do so. Good my honourable friend the | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
kind enough to tell the house what the 200,000 people who will not | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
receive treatment this year are expected to do? How long they are | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
expected to wait for treatment? Bearing in mind that most or many of | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
them will develop cirrhosis or liver cancer and go on to die, how much it | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
would cost the taxpayer and the National Health Service to care for | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
and treat each one of those patients through to death and how much less | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
it is than the cost of providing treatment today? My lord, there are | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
many people who suffer from hepatitis C who are asymptomatic and | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
don't actually know that they've got hepatitis C will stop the figure of | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
220,000, I don't know if that figure is true or not. But people who do | :24:01. | :24:08. | |
have it can have treatment using interferon, the drug, which is an | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
extremely unpleasantly than bagging take up to a year and have many | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
side-effects. In some ways it is a miracle drug but it is incredibly | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
expensive. We have to accept not just with hepatitis C but many | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
cancer treatment as well, there are some drugs that are similar going to | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
be too expensive to spend on large and other people. If there are large | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
budgetary constraints, surely those victims who are infected by state | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
action should have priority? Is the noble Lord aware that there are many | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
Welsh patients were infected with contaminated blood in English | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
hospitals and they are now being used in a game of pass the parcel | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
between the UK Government and the Welsh Government. Can he now say | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
what was agreed at the meeting on the 24th of March between his | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
officials and officials of the Welsh Government, because patients in | :25:03. | :25:05. | |
Wales have not been able to get an answer from the Acting Chief Medical | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
Officer of the Welsh Government about this, or perhaps he could | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
write to me. My Lords, the basis of making available this new drug for | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
hepatitis C is based... Not the route of infection. There is a | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
consultation going about whether a special fund might be established | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
for those who have received infected blood. I can't answer specifically | :25:31. | :25:33. | |
on the issue about the Welsh people but I will write about it. That's it | :25:34. | :25:41. | |
for this programme. Join me for the Week in Parliament when we not only | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
look back at the last few days in the Commons and the Lords but also | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
report on why the familiar chimes of Big Ben may not be ringing out soon. | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
Until then, from me, Keith McDougall, goodbye. | :25:55. | :25:56. |