On 19 July 2010 Mike Dorricott, Chris James and Dave Tonkin met with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Anne Milton.
It was a very positive meeting and initial feedback is as follows:
The Minister advised that she was in the process of gathering information from campaigners, the MacFarlane Trust, the Eileen Trust and the Skipton Fund. She asked what would achieve closure for the community. She was advised that, whilst the implementation of the Archer Report recommendations would not achieve this for everyone, the community in general had come to see this as its expectation. When questioned regarding the timetable for bringing closure, the Minister stated that she would like this matter: '...sorted out by Christmas.'
Regarding the Judicial Review, the Minister is aware that a response is required by mid-September.
In summary: This was viewed as a very positive meeting. We do remain cautious in building up people's hopes as these are early days and we are in the middle of some very tough Governmental decisions on spending however we look forward to building on this to achieve the outcome thatwe are all looking for.
TaintedBlood, Manor House Group, Contaminated Blood Coalition Committee and the Haemophilia Society UK
