To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will set up a state compensation scheme for victims of thalidomide.

My Lords, thalidomide victims are compensated through a private settlement which was agreed with Distillers, now part of Diageo plc, the company that marketed the drug in the United Kingdom, and the Thalidomide Trust, which was established to administer the annual payments to victims. Diageo continues to make annual payments to the trust, and I understand that under the most recent settlement Diageo has agreed to pay a total of £150 million into the trust fund by 2037.

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that response, but is he aware that it is very disappointing? The settlement with Distillers to which he referred was regarded at the time as an accomplishment and was warmly welcomed, but with the ageing process and increasing costs, it is now regarded as a very poor settlement indeed. We require the Government to step in and set up a compensation scheme because they are responsible for thalidomide damage: the drug was distributed through the health service and there is a clear responsibility on them. I hope the Government will not lean on that settlement of over 40 years ago—it is out of date, out of time and inadequate—but set up a compensation scheme for the victims. In that way they will replace injustice with justice.

My Lords, we recognise that thalidomide victims are a special group who have been struck by a terrible tragedy that blighted their lives. We also recognise the tremendous contribution that the noble Lord, Lord Ashley, has made to that cause.

Back in 1974 the Government gave a grant to the tune of £5 million. In 1978 they gave £0.8 million. Most of that was related to the misunderstanding of the taxed treatment of the fund. In 1996 the Government made a final once-and-for-all payment to the trust of £7 million in recognition of the unique and tragic circumstances that surrounded the thalidomide disaster. The Thalidomide Trust has significant assets, and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health has requested that officials should meet the trust to discuss some of the challenges facing it in the future.

Perhaps I may say where the UK victims are in relation to some of our European neighbours. Thalidomide sufferers in the UK receive typically about £18,000 a year, but those with more severe disabilities receive more than that. Victims in Ireland receive £4,000 while in Germany they receive £8,000. Let us not forget also that the NHS provides a healthcare system that is very different from that of our European neighbours, being universally available, tax-funded and free at the point of need. I hope I have reassured the noble Lord that the victims of this tragic incident are well supported not only through the trust, to which we are very grateful, but through the provision of health and social care.

My Lords, I understand that only 457 thalidomide victims remain in this country. That is not a huge number, but their disability and difficulties are of course increasing as they get older; everyone understands that. Would it be possible for the Minister to ask the Thalidomide Trust to do an urgent individual needs assessment of each of those 457 people and then come back to the Government for supplementary income if it felt it necessary?

My Lords, as I said, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health wrote to the Thalidomide Trust asking it to meet our officials. Unfortunately, that has not happened; it was refused. The noble Baroness will be aware that we have many initiatives within the NHS that will be extremely beneficial to victims of the thalidomide tragedy, including the musculoskeletal services framework and some of the direct payments that we have recently been debating in Committee on the Health Bill, as well as the emergence and development of prosthetic-limb technologies in the 1960s. Today, as noble Lords know, prosthetic limbs are provided free of charge throughout the NHS to such victims. There are many policies, but if the trust believes that we can help it with a needs assessment, we will be more than happy to do so.

My Lords, will my noble friend Lord Darzi say what effect the change in the law now on Crown immunity could have on any assessment today of the responsibility of the National Health Service in this medical disaster, as the prescriber of thalidomide?

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord. Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s the regulations on the prescription and approval of drugs were different from those at the moment. We should recognise the tremendous amount of work that has gone into the marketing, testing and regulation of drugs, as encapsulated in the Medicines Act 1968, from which society has benefited greatly.

My Lords, I had not planned to intervene but do so now from the Back Benches. I declare an interest: I acted for one of the victims of the thalidomide disaster. Thanks to the noble work of the noble Lord, Lord Ashley of Stoke, the individual concerned—who, sadly, has recently died—received damages in that case. However, the original settlement was only 40 per cent of the damages to which she was entitled. She received the largest sum, but there was still a 60 per cent shortfall. Will the Minister please look again at the lack of seamless care between social services and the National Health Service? It is causing problems for those who, as the noble Baroness just mentioned, are still alive but are not getting the treatment that they should receive.

My Lords, I am not entirely sure whether the case was against the state or against Diageo.

My Lords, it was against the defendants at the time. The noble Lord, Lord Ashley of Stoke, ran a tremendous campaign and, as a result, damages were achieved, but they were only 40 per cent of the entitlement.

My Lords, I am grateful for that explanation and will look into this further. I have spent the past 18 months in your Lordships' House trying to address the issue of integration between health and social care. As the Health Bill goes through, with your Lordships’ support, we will see some of the fruits of that.