Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with relation to the oral contribution from the Prime Minister on 20th February 2019 in Volume 654, Column 1465, whether the commitment to waiving legal privilege in respect to the Infected Blood Inquiry was made on behalf of all Government Departments or just the Department of Health and Social Care.

The Government is committed to full disclosure to the Infected Blood Inquiry, and no historical record or document relevant to the Inquiry will be withheld from it.

In his statement on Disclosure and Legal Professional Privilege (LPP), Sir Brian Langstaff recognized that the right to assert LPP is preserved in the context of public inquiries by section 22(1) of the Inquiries Act 2005. He also recognised that, given the passage of time that the Inquiry will be investigating, many of the LPP and confidentiality issues will have eroded and this is the Government’s position also.