§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether in the light of the out-of-court settlements reached in the Opren case and the fact that the court has now adjourned sine die, he will now answer parliamentary questions on the subject of Opren; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonThe out-of-court settlement in the Opren case referred to by the right hon. Member is the result of 597W private negotiations between representatives of Eli Lilly and Company Limited, the manufacturers of the drug, and the plaintiffs concerned to which the Government defendants were not a party. The action against the Government defendants is still before the courts and, as Mr. Justice Hirst stressed in his statement on 9 December about the terms of the proposed settlement, the case is still sub judice.