(HANSARD) in the fourth session of the fifty-second parliament of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland commencing on the seventh day of may in the forty-sixth year of the reign of
HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II
FIFTH SERIES
VOLUME DCXXIV FIFTH VOLUME OF SESSION 2000--01 House of Lords
Monday, 26th March 2001.
The House met at half-past two of the clock: The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
Prayers--Read by the Lord Bishop of Guildford.
Working Families' Tax Credit
Lord Goodhart asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is their response to the report of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, published on 27th February, on working families' tax credit.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, working families' tax credit is a success in making work pay for families on low to middle incomes and in tackling child poverty. Over 1.1 million families receive it--300,000 more than claimed its predecessor, family credit. Working families' tax credit is boosting incomes, paying on average an extra £76.86 a week to families looking after 2.2 million children. We welcome NACAB's recognition of the contribution made by working families' tax credit to making work pay and tackling child poverty.
Lord Goodhart: My Lords, in the light of the NACAB report will the Government reconsider their insistence on payment of the tax credit through employers? Will the noble Lord accept, as we forecast during the debates on the Bill in your Lordships' House, that the payment system throws unnecessary administrative burdens on small employers and, as the NACAB report has shown, is actually detrimental to a significant number of employees?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, we do not accept that argument. We did not accept it at the time
and it has not proved true now. The only evidence that has been produced in favour of removing what is called a burden on employers is from the Better Regulation Task Force. We very much respect that body but it reported before the working families' tax credit came into effect. Of course, if there is evidence of particular burdens on particular kinds of employers, we shall listen carefully to that.
Baroness Carnegy of Lour: My Lords, the citizens advice bureaux, which have had a great deal of contact with people who are having problems with working families' tax credit, maintain that some 371,000 people who the Government expected would be able to claim the credit have not done so. Is it the case that the effect that credit has on housing benefit, council tax benefit and on help with school clothes may well mean that people would be less well off if they receive the working families' tax credit and therefore they are failing to claim it? If that is the case, are the Government disappointed?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, that is not the case. No one is worse off as a result of receiving working families' tax credit. Indeed, the tapers have been so devised that everyone is better off to some extent as a result of working families' tax credit; in other words, they do not lose as much in housing benefit or council tax credit as they would if they were not receiving working families' tax credit. That is in contrast to the previous family credit system. As regards free school meals, those were consolidated into the benefit, not when working families' tax credit was introduced but when family credit was introduced.
Lord Saatchi: My Lords, does the Minister agree that if a company held on to money which it knew belonged to its customers, that would be considered a pretty poor show? But is that not what the Government do on a grand scale by devising complicated tax credits such as the one we are discussing and then not paying them to millions of people? Will he tell the House how many billions of
pounds the Government are saving this year by the non-payment of tax credits and allowances to families who are entitled to them?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, nothing. It is simply not the case that the Government are holding on to money. If the noble Lord, Lord Saatchi, refers to the fact that employers pay working families' tax credit--which, indeed, they do--they offset it against the money which they receive in the form of national insurance contributions. If any employers have particular cash flow problems, they can have that dealt with by arrangement with the Inland Revenue. The Revenue does not benefit.
Haemophilia Treatment
2.40 p.m.
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What new help they are considering for people with haemophilia who have been infected with life-threatening illnesses by contaminated National Health Service blood products.
Lord Burlison: My Lords, in England all new haemophilia patients and children under 16 are treated with recombinant clotting factors. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland provide, or are in the process of providing, recombinant clotting factors for all haemophilia patients. The Government are currently considering whether all adult haemophilia patients in England should also be treated with recombinant clotting factors when sufficient supplies are available.
Lord Morris of Manchester: My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend. As he knows, this Question is about what doctors of the highest distinction have described as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS". Is my noble friend also aware of the High Court's landmark ruling today that the National Blood Authority was negligent in supplying blood contaminated with hepatitis C and has awarded significant compensation? Will the unmistakable logic of that ruling now be applied to haemophilia patients given hepatitis C by contaminated NHS blood products?
Moreover, is it not cruelly unfair to deny safer recombinant blood products to English patients with haemophilia aged over 16 when there is now no such restriction in Scotland and Wales? Does not this take the "N" out of NHS?
Lord Burlison: My Lords, first, I pay tribute to my noble friend's work for the cause of those throughout the United Kingdom suffering from haemophilia. I congratulate him on his role as president of the Haemophilia Society. I am sure that it could have no finer advocate.
The case referred to was brought by a number of claimants infected by hepatitis C through blood transfusions against the National Blood Authority under the consumer protection legislation of 1988. The judgment is about 350 pages long and very detailed. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further until the details of the judgment have been fully assessed.
My noble friend referred to the availability of recombinant treatment in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Recombinant treatment is currently available to new patients, those under 16 years of age, and patients outside those categories where prescribed. Not all haemophiliacs may want recombinant treatment. However, the Government are considering whether all haemophiliacs should be treated with recombinant clotting factors. We realise that there is a shortage and the Government are looking for additional suppliers.
Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, haemophiliacs have little confidence in conventional blood products. What are the Government doing to tackle the serious shortage of the recombinant factor? When will the Government consider whether haemophiliacs in England above the age of 16 will be able to have recombinant factors?
Lord Burlison: My Lords, there is no evidence that recombinant factors are safer than plasma-based products. However, discussions on recombinant factors are ongoing. The Government are currently considering whether all adult haemophiliacs in England should be treated with the recombinant factor. It is an ongoing process. As soon as the Government have arrived at a decision they will inform those concerned.
Baroness Gardner of Parkes: My Lords, the Minister states that it is an ongoing process. I raised the matter in 1997 so it has been ongoing for a long time. What does the noble Lord mean when he states that there is no evidence that the recombinant factor is safer? Is it not correct that the recombinant factor is artificially produced and, therefore, cannot carry human blood contamination? How many haemophiliacs have died from HIV/AIDS and how many are currently diagnosed as having the condition?
Lord Burlison: My Lords, the noble Baroness poses a number of issues. I cannot respond in the detail that she may seek. The noble Baroness raised the issue as far back as 1997. Indeed, it was raised before that period. It has been a lengthy process. Like their predecessors, the Government decided that patients under 16--their parents were obviously worried about them--would have the recombinant factors afforded to them. Where it is prescribed, the treatment will be given. The Government are still considering whether to extend supply to all haemophiliacs in Britain. As soon as a decision is made, I am sure that the noble Baroness and this House will be informed.
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