Statement
My Right Honourable friend the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, the Rt Hon. Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, has today made the following statement:
Further to my statement of 17 December, I hereby give notice that the Cabinet Office has received a Contingencies Fund advance to make compensation payments to victims of the infected blood scandal.
The Cabinet Office’s capital annually managed expenditure (AME) budget in its Main Estimate 2024-25 did not provide funding for compensation payments already approved by Parliament through the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024. This advance was used to quickly compensate victims of the infected blood scandal. This has been received through the Supplementary Estimate, this advance enabled compensation to be made ahead of Parliament formally approving the ambit and the associated expenditure.
Parliamentary approval for additional capital of £272,000,000 for this new expenditure was sought in a Supplementary Estimate for the Cabinet Office. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £272,000,000 was met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.
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This statement has also been made in the House of Commons