THE views of people in Wales affected by the contaminated blood scandal must be fully taken into account in an inquiry into the issue, Wales' health secretary has said.

About 7,500 people in the UK were infected with hepatitis C and HIV in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of being given infected blood, 2,400 of whom died. Among them was seven-year-old Colin Smith from Newport, who died of Aids in 1990 after he was given blood from a prisoner in an American jail to treat haemophilia.

And, following years of campaigning by victims and their families, last year Theresa May announced a full inquiry would be held.

The Welsh Government's health secretary Vaughan Gething gave an update on the inquiry, which is due to get fully underway in May, in the Assembly earlier today, calling the scandal "a tragedy that should never have happened and must never happen again".

"It was very clear to me when meeting with individuals and the families of those affected that an inquiry was very important to them," he said.

"They had been lobbying for many years, individually and through Haemophilia Wales, our own cross-party group, and, indeed, cross-party groups across other Parliaments of the UK as well, to get to the truth of what happened.

"I hope that they can now take some comfort that their efforts have paid off and the inquiry they have long fought for is going to happen.

"I also want to reassure them that I will be following the inquiry’s progress closely and I'll be seeking assurance that the views of those affected in Wales are being fully taken into account."

Mr Gething added the terms of reference for the inquiry were currently being developed by its chairman Mr Justice Langstaff.

"I'm interested in doing the right thing for people here in Wales, which is why when we've made our interventions on a cross-party basis or, indeed, the (Welsh) government writing to the UK Government, we've done so by listening to people in Wales first as opposed to deciding for people what we think is right for them," he said.

"We have such an obvious and directly affected group of families and individuals, it must be right that we do our best to be advocates for them and try and make sure we get to the truth of what happened."

Mr Langstaff has promised “a thorough examination of the evidence”.