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Showing 43 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
We move to our second agenda item, on the final report of the Penrose inquiry. We will hear oral evidence on the report from Petra Wright. Should that be Bill Wright? No—it is Petra Wright.
The Convener (Duncan McNeil) Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Decision on Taking Business in Private
Good morning, and welcome to the ninth meeting in 2016 of the Health and Sport Committee. As is usual at this point, I ask everyone to switch off their mobile phones because they can interfere with the sound system—they would certainly interfere with the committee’s proceeding...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Petra Wright is Scottish officer for the Hepatitis C Trust, Philip Dolan is the convener of the Scottish Infected Blood Forum, and Bill Wright is chair of Haemophilia Scotland. Welcome to you all. In the interests of time, we will move directly to questions. The first question...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
I will let Petra Wright respond to the first question, and then I will take some supplementaries on the inquiry process. After that, I will allow the witnesses to make further comments.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Do other members have questions on the process of the inquiry?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Just a minute, Mr Wright. Do members have any other questions on the theme of the inquiry and its outcomes? No? Okay—go ahead, Mr Wright.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Richard Lyle will take us on to the next topic.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Richard Lyle has a third and final question to move us on in this theme.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Yes, but you are taking time from some of the other questions.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Some of that is reflected in the written evidence, of course, but it is good to get it on the record.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
A rightful closure is a good start. What would be a rightful closure?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
As you would expect, the committee gets into these kinds of situations all the time. This week, in fact, we will be speaking on matters on which a majority view and a minority view have been expressed. Having read the background papers for this session, I can see that there ar...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
As the background paper makes clear, we are also talking about a complex set of arrangements. Does Mr Wright have a comment on that?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Petra, you mentioned the figure of 200 people who have still not been identified. Are you aware of how that number was identified? Why is it 200? Where did a nice round number like that come from? 10:45
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Have you collectively done any work to estimate what the number is more likely to be?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
That question is left hanging.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
We have had a wee discussion about public funding—how much is the public funding of the various bodies? Do we know?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Do you not get anything, Mr Wright? Are you not expecting a cheque in the post this weekend like Mr Dolan?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
It is in the bank; it is not in the post. But you are not telling us what it was.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Okay. I asked about that just to complete the picture—not for any other reason.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
I presume that you welcome the three-year funding.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Committee members have no more questions. Mr Dolan is indicating that he wants to speak again. Of course you can have the last word, Mr Dolan. Indeed, if any of the witnesses wants to add anything, they are welcome to do so. We have all your written evidence, which is extensiv...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
You are finishing on a significant note, as I am sure that the committee would agree. The issue is not about medical titles or formulas for compensation, but about people. The committee genuinely understands that. Many of us have been involved in the journey that you have des...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
No. I am sorry, Mr Dolan. We are not going into private session. We will take evidence now from the cabinet secretary and her colleagues. The witnesses are welcome to stay for that and to watch from the public gallery. I thank you all for your attendance, the time that you h...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
I welcome the cabinet secretary and her officials for the second evidence session this morning. Shona Robison is the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, Gareth Brown is acting head of the health protection division in the Scottish Government, and Professor David...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Thank you, cabinet secretary. We will move directly to questions—the first is from Dennis Robertson.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
That is the direction of travel that that community would want, as we heard in evidence earlier. We need to get to that point of financial help for people, and we have heard from the cabinet secretary that there will be “enhanced arrangements” around that. Can you describe wha...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Do you consider that a part-payment could be an interim measure?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
So, would a Scottish set-up happen after the financial arrangements have been settled, and would it deal with further actions?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
In Scotland, who would be entitled to an interim payment? Would they be entitled by the fact that they live here, or by the fact that they were contaminated here? What if the person now lives in Canada or England?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
So you know them.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
If we know who the recipients are in Scotland, is the issue to do with getting money from the UK pot and an agreement to pay them? We know where the people are. What is preventing us from giving them an interim payment before the election?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Do you not expect something from the announcement about UK funding?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Yes, but I am talking about the enhancement and whether the payment goes from £20,000 or £30,000 to £50,000, if that is a good way of putting it. Will none of that be funded by the UK Government, given its announcement?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Do we not get anything from the UK Government?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
When the earlier panel talked about the announcement about finance and enhancements, which they support, they said that the new scheme would include treatment costs, which concerned them, because they thought that it would impact on payments.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
As Fiona McLeod does not want to follow up either, Richard Lyle has the next question.
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
I have a couple of wee supplementary questions about what Professor Goldberg said about the at-risk group of 14,500 people. Does the Scottish Government have a view on extending tests to people who were drug users in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Is there regular testing or a programme to test those who were drug users in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s? Is that group being caught? Would it be considered reasonable to extend active testing to that group of people? Alternatively, have I been misled from our briefing and the ...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Is there a historical issue relating to the impact on people and the community? Will that be considered?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
We had extensive written and oral evidence from the first panel of witnesses today. The point was made that we should focus not just on the liver, to put it in layman’s terms, but on the wider impact on an individual’s body and outcomes. Petra Wright raised the point that extr...
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Does the Canadian six-stage model take into consideration those wider health issues?
The Convener Lab Committee
09 Feb 2016
Penrose Inquiry
Thank you. As there are no other questions from the committee, I thank the cabinet secretary and her colleagues for being with us and for the evidence that they have provided.
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Committee

Health and Sport Committee 09 February 2016

09 Feb 2016 · S4 · Health and Sport Committee
Item of business
Penrose Inquiry
McNeil, Duncan Lab Greenock and Inverclyde Watch on SPTV
We move to our second agenda item, on the final report of the Penrose inquiry. We will hear oral evidence on the report from Petra Wright. Should that be Bill Wright? No—it is Petra Wright.

In the same item of business

The Convener Lab
We move to our second agenda item, on the final report of the Penrose inquiry. We will hear oral evidence on the report from Petra Wright. Should that be Bil...
Petra Wright (Hepatitis C Trust)
We are not related.
Bill Wright (Haemophilia Scotland)
Fond of her as I am, convener, we are not brother and sister, or whatever.
The Convener Lab
Petra Wright is Scottish officer for the Hepatitis C Trust, Philip Dolan is the convener of the Scottish Infected Blood Forum, and Bill Wright is chair of Ha...
Richard Lyle (Central Scotland) (SNP) SNP
First, I thank you, convener, and the committee for holding this evidence session. I am sure that many people who have been affected by the issues that are b...
Bill Wright
The committee will be well aware that, among those of us who endured the six-year-long inquiry, the common phrase that was used was that it was a “whitewash”...
Philip Dolan (Scottish Infected Blood Forum)
I agree with many of the things that Bill Wright has said. I have written a history of the subject, and I feel like I have been haunting this place and the c...
The Convener Lab
I will let Petra Wright respond to the first question, and then I will take some supplementaries on the inquiry process. After that, I will allow the witness...
Petra Wright
I was not personally involved in the Penrose inquiry, but I would like to comment on it. Richard Lyle mentioned the length of time that the process has take...
The Convener Lab
Do other members have questions on the process of the inquiry?
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (Lab) Lab
I also want to ask about something else, but I will stick to that issue for the moment. I totally take on board what the witnesses have said and I understan...
Bill Wright
No—
The Convener Lab
Just a minute, Mr Wright. Do members have any other questions on the theme of the inquiry and its outcomes? No? Okay—go ahead, Mr Wright.
Bill Wright
In the time that was taken a substantial body of evidence was collected. Much of it was new evidence of which we had not previously been aware. The inquiry t...
Philip Dolan
I feel most strongly about the fact that during the six years—or whatever length of time it was—the victims were not listened to, and that during the year or...
The Convener Lab
Richard Lyle will take us on to the next topic.
Richard Lyle SNP
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Mr Dolan. Sadly, I have heard the same from other sufferers all too often. Was it a weakness that the Penrose ...
Philip Dolan
Many years ago, there was an inquiry about BSE in England, which was chaired by a Scottish judge. At the end, the inquiry came out and said that it blamed th...
Bill Wright
The question illustrates the shortcomings in the inquiry system that I alluded to. We can look at a number of inquiries. I understand that a former First Min...
The Convener Lab
Richard Lyle has a third and final question to move us on in this theme.
Richard Lyle SNP
Dennis Robertson has a question, so I will let him in first.
Dennis Robertson (Aberdeenshire West) (SNP) SNP
It is just a quick supplementary question on death certificates. You are saying that the cause of death could have been hepatitis C or whatever but, because ...
Bill Wright
Some improvements have been made. Previously, anybody who was medically qualified could write a death certificate. However, the legacy for us has been consid...
Petra Wright
Many deaths that were attributable to hepatitis C have been attributed to other things. Since hepatitis C became known about, evidence has emerged about area...
Bill Wright
Could I follow up on that, please?
The Convener Lab
Yes, but you are taking time from some of the other questions.
Bill Wright
It brings us to the next issue, convener, which is financial recognition. There is a surprising frequency of death from cerebral brain haemorrhage being rec...
The Convener Lab
Some of that is reflected in the written evidence, of course, but it is good to get it on the record.
Philip Dolan
I want to pick up on one specific point. During the inquiry, when expert witnesses came in, there were three or four doctors who all sat close together givin...
Richard Lyle SNP
I have been involved with the issue for the past few years. Last year, I had the opportunity to go and see the emotional and hard-hitting play “Factor 9”, wh...