Treasury apologises for Infected Blood "error" - documents show wrong Ministerial briefings on Scandal
The Treasury has sent a written apology to Factor 8 regarding its response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request regarding Infected Blood Compensation. This revelation comes after a review initiated following a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
On August 22, 2022, Factor 8 submitted an FOI request to HM Treasury, seeking copies of email and written correspondence held by the Private Office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer related to Infected Blood Compensation during the period between April 1, 2022 - August 20, 2022.
HM Treasury responded to the initial request on July 14, 2023, disclosing certain redacted information. However, during the subsequent review prompted by the complaint to the ICO, it came to light that two additional redacted documents should have been provided to Factor 8 at that time.
The Treasury has described its actions as being due to an "administrative error" and they have apologised for the omission. The two documents that should have been included in the initial response are:
Infected Blood submission to Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Chancellor of the Exchequer and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Decision on interim compensation for victims of Infected Blood
These documents contain redactions.
Significantly, the documents show that Ministers are still being provided with incorrect information about the infected blood scandal.
For example, in both documents, Ministers are given the line: "During the 1970s and early 1980s some blood and blood products supplied by the NHS, to up to 30,000 people (many with haemophilia), were contaminated with HIV and Hepatitis C. More than 4500 patients contracted one or both of these diseases as a result, of whom over 2000 are thought to have died."
There are several points to note here.
Infected Factor VIII was in use into late 1985, and it is known some infections even occurred in 1986. Hardly the "early 1980s".
It said "some" blood products were contaminated, but we know every bottle of Factor VIII was infected with Hepatitis C prior to heat treatment.
We see the wrongful use of a figure of "30,000" which appears nowhere in the Inquiry's statistics expert reports. It is unclear where this figure has come from.
Ministers are told "over 2000 are thought to have died" yet the inquiry has reported that at least 2,900 deaths are attributable.
We also see in the documents that ministers are told "there are support schemes in place," but with no mention that two-thirds of bereaved families are excluded.
The Inquiry statistics reports had not been published at the time of these documents but the rest of the information was known, and it remains deeply concerning to see the use of entirely unsourced figures. We are concerned that as recently as 2022, ministers were being briefed with incorrect information.
The documents can be viewed here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/x68oz86udwbtezm7rm7dp/h?rlkey=tuykdo1ly64yy84sormzv4ywh&dl=0
