Campaigners push for infected blood compensation documents to be public
Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s
Last updated 27th Feb 2024
Campaigners are calling for documents about the compensation payments for victims of the infected blood scandal to be made public.
Today (27 February), Factor 8 and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will face the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in court, after the body denied a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for details about infected blood compensation.
Ministers first appealed to the courts to prevent the information from being released last year, even after the ICO intervened.
The ICO's ruling was triggered by requests for email correspondence by Factor 8's founder Jason Evans, from Coventry, whose father died after being treated with contaminated blood.
Mr Evans said: "So one of the things I did was make Freedom of Information requests to try and get out of the Department of Health what was going on, and they've basically refused to release most of the information.
"I took it to the Information Commissioner's Office, which said I had a legal right to this information, and they had to provide it.
"And now they've decided to appeal to court to prevent them from having to publish it."
The court case comes after cross-party politicians push to speed up compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal to ensure it covers the whole of the UK.
An amendment has been brought forward to the House of Lords to see interim payments of £100k be made to bereaved parents and children.
More than 3,000 people died after contracting HIV or hepatitis C via NHS treatments in the 1970s and 80s after being treated with contaminated blood.
Sir Keir Starmer recently challenged Rishi Sunak over the governments delay in paying compensation to the victims of the infected blood scandal.
The Labour leader said: "Just like the post masters, victims of the infected blood scandal have been subject to unimaginable trauma during their search for justice. So, can the Prime Minister put their minds at ease, and tell the House what undertakings he has made to ensure the government is not limping to the elections on payments that they are owed by the British state."
Victims say they are confused about why Sunak is not acting on infected blood compensation the same way as the Post Office scandal - despite the Infected Blood Inquiry having concluded hearings and publishing its final compensation recommendations in April last year.