Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 20 May 2024, what information his Department holds on whether the use of haemophilia patients and their families for research has ceased.

Medical research was an important area examined in the inquiry, with it concluding that ‘the value of such research to society is enhanced rather than undermined by undertaking research in an ethical and moral way’.

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care.

In January 2026, the NIHR published the attached report, From subject to participant and partner, on its website, summarising the concerns raised in the inquiry report, as well as a summary of the research governance changes since and a synthesis of an in-person workshop. The NIHR and partners who attended the workshop are committed to upholding the highest standards of research governance to drive better inclusivity in the evidence base for care, working with those who use, manage, or work in health and care services to share learning and drive improvement. The NIHR requires all applicants to demonstrate how their research will address existing inequalities in health and social care as a condition of funding.

The NIHR was created in 2006, many decades after individuals received infected blood in the United Kingdom. The NIHR did not therefore fund any clinical trials or research where individuals received infected blood. The NIHR has strong ethical, safety, and legal governance arrangements, including processes to ensure informed consent for those participating in research, and includes parental and guardian consent for children involved in research.

The NIHR funds a wide range of research relevant to the Infected Blood Inquiry. Work includes making blood donation and transfusion safer by improving transfusion practice, reducing variation in practice and ensuring greater resilience and efficiency throughout the blood supply chain.

This includes research on improving the safety of blood transfusions and blood products, and research to improve better detection and treatments for blood borne infections, including through opt out testing in accident and emergency departments for HIV, and Hepatitis B and C.