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7 May 2025: Thomas-Symonds - B

Finally, questions from core participants: On IBCA being staffed by many civil servants and so having lots of paperwork requirements. He said the staffing arrangement was to make things happen quicker. (Don’t all laugh) Has the Duty of Candour bill got any involvement of the Infected Blood community. He said they may not be named, but they will be. Are you under any pressure from the Treasury about restricting funds. He said no. Are those who are paid later to be due any interest? He said something about “broad”, “totality” etc., which probably means James Q won’t let me. On the dates such as the HIV cut-off, will you take this back. Yes. Was the change in the SCM due to the Treasury? No Are you aware of case handlers at IBCA asking people to go over the difficulties they have faced? He said it is part of the approach to gain a comprehensive picture. But is that not against the expert opinion? He said he would pick up on that. If the Government had listened to people earlier, there wou...
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7 May 2025: Thomas-Symonds - A

Following on from the sight of a full panel of witnesses on the platform, the Minister sat in the middle of the long table looking as isolated a “Johnny No-mates”. There was no welcome as usually afforded the witness by the Chair, just a statement of the oath being administered. Before answering questions, the Minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds (NTS) wanted to make a statement. That was no surprise. After the obligatory latest apology, the statement was a combination of how short the timescales were (excuses), and how much he wanted to press ahead (oh really). Miss Richards reviewed how the so-called Expert Group had already done its work before he was appointed after the election. He was asked about the Inquiry findings related to the issue of a lack of transparency and candour by officials and how this had impacted the infected blood community. NTS was asked to confirm if the Government was committed to transparency and candour, and he said it was. It was pointed out that the timescale fo...
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7 May 2025: Panel of Campaigners/Groups - B

It was assumed that the other witnesses would have been locked in a room with advisers, all locked to a screen showing the Inquiry. No doubt, the focus will be on identifying the issues raised and coming up with responses. The list of accusations made already should be enough to cause people with a heart and a brain to squirm and give up on defence mode, instead to shift to a conciliatory stance. We shall see. Organisational witnesses were next. The first point was the “tsunami” of helpline calls since the Government response to the final report began to sink in. The first topic of the session was the unfairness in the way Hepatitis C infectees are treated and therefore compensated, or not. The direction of travel with the regulations and how they are being applied flies in the face of the lived experience of so many people. The amount of evidence to fit someone to a liver damage stage will exclude many people from commensurate compensation. There is no recognition of the extra-hepatic...
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7 May 2025: Panel of Campaigners/Groups - A

Almost a full year since the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry “final” report, we are back in London, back in Church House, back with our fellow victim-survivors, hoping against hope we are not back at square one. It would have been no small thing to make the decision to re-open the public hearings of the Inquiry. The unprecedented characteristics of the Contaminated Blood Scandal has taken on a new facet which subverts words like final, closure, ending, and healing. The response of Government to the outcome of the Inquiry has been as inadequate, as undermining, as traumatising, and as miserly as was the response of Governments throughout the periods investigated by the Inquiry. Nothing seems to have changed, apart from the nature of the gaslighting messages. “We did the best we could under the circumstances” replaced by “We’re doing the best we can by working at pace”. A great deal of faith is being placed in Sir Brian, Jenni, and the team. The faith in the Government has long...
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26 July 2023: Sunak - B

Questions from core participants: When the Francis Study was received, was it costed? He could not say. Is the Government using the Inquiry as an excuse not to act, and does the Government actually want to pay compensation? He said no, the Inquiry is just the process and not an excuse. He recalled the interim payments made – again – to justify the Government’s commitment. Why could the Government make the first interim payments but not the second recommendations? He wasn’t in Government at that time of the first payments (“it wasn’t me” again), but he had agreed with doing it. He glossed over the logic of the question. Citing the expected year ahead as had been covered by Penny Mordaunt, Counsel sought to know if there is a commitment to legislate on these issues in the fourth session. He could (would) not commit “for obvious reasons” which were not obvious. The apparent inconsistency between what Penny Mordaunt had said and what the witness said were raised, but he disagreed with them...
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26 July 2023: Sunak - A

And in walked the Prime Minister (PM), at exactly 2pm. One minute later the Chair enters. Sir Brian said a few words of thanks for the special circumstances related to access people had to endure due to the additional security arrangements. The PM gave the oath following his own religious affiliation. Counsel contextually reviewed how the witness had stated that his knowledge and involvement relied on other Ministers, however he had received more recent briefings in preparation for the appearance today. The first questions went straight to the communications from Penny Mordaunt when she was Paymaster General (PG). These highlighted in strong terms the need for action at the time and not to delay. Before answering, the witness wanted to say how he recognised this was, “An appalling scandal … people have suffered for decades” (and other fine words not backed up with action). In relation to the letters from the PG, he did not see them under the normal situation of a triage to filter the c...
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25 July 2023: Dunn - B

Questions from core participants: Was there an investigation into the newspaper leaks? She was not aware of one, but that would have been taken forward by the Cabinet Office. (Fox and chicken coop comes to mind.) What are the main elements being used to come up with the leaked figures? She was not able to say but would get back to the Inquiry with that information. On psychological support, will the research be made publicly available, and when? She expected it would be and was expected in August. The research was understood to have been commissioned in 2022, but the need was highlighted in 2020. Why did it take so long to get to the point of commissioning the work? She said there was a process of “ongoing dialogue” after which it was decided that what was required was more ongoing dialogue. (That’s not exactly how it was phrased.) The Chair referenced himself as having, on several occasions, expressed the hope that he can recognise how everyone in the UK, including England, was benefi...
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