Health and Community Care Committee, 02 Oct 2002

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 2, 2002

Official Report 190KB pdf

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Hepatitis C (Compensation)

For agenda item 4, members should have a copy of the response to my letter to the Minister for Health and Community Care, asking when we will receive a response on the work of the expert group on hepatitis C. There have been some developments on the back of that letter. I have spoken to the ministerial team and we have a date—30 October—for the minister to come to the committee. The date would have been earlier had it not been for the two weeks of recess. The ministerial team cannot come before the recess because of Cabinet timing, but the minister will tell us what is happening on the issue at the first meeting after the recess.

Members will notice from their work programme that the minister is scheduled to come the following week to talk about the Mental Health (Scotland) Bill and the budget process. However, it is important that the minister talks to us as soon as possible on hepatitis C and that we have a proper chance to question him on it. Rather than the minister having to deal with three issues at one meeting, it would be better for us to question him specifically about hepatitis C on 30 October. Are members happy with that suggestion?

Members indicated agreement.

We will discuss agenda item 5, which is on witness expenses, in private.

Meeting continued in private until 11:21.