Inquiry Evidence
Oral evidence to the Infected Blood Inquiry
On 11 June 2021, Jason Evans gave a full day of oral evidence to the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Questioned by Counsel to the Inquiry, he spoke about the death of his father, Jonathan; the origins and methods of the Factor 8 campaign; and the documentary research he had undertaken into the infected blood scandal.
The hearing is presented below in five parts. Each description identifies the principal subjects discussed, but the recordings together form one continuous day of evidence.
Part One of Five
Jonathan Evans and the campaign for an inquiry
Jason begins with his father’s haemophilia treatment, infection with HIV and hepatitis C, death at the age of 31, and the lasting effects on his family. He then explains what led him to become a campaigner, the formation of Factor 8, the pursuit of group litigation and the campaign for a statutory public inquiry, before introducing his use of Freedom of Information law to uncover records.
Part Two of Five
Freedom of Information and the missing record
Part Two examines the obstacles Jason encountered while attempting to reconstruct the documentary record. He discusses government redactions, missing and unreleased files, the Cabinet Office Clearing House, the handling of more than a thousand Freedom of Information requests, an apology from Sir Chris Wormald and his attempts to trace Public Health Laboratory Service records.
Part Three of Five
Hepatitis C, the waiver and destroyed records
This section turns to the substance of Jason’s research. It includes his investigation into Travenol and plasma sourced from Russian cadavers; government knowledge of hepatitis C; the hepatitis waiver attached to the 1991 HIV settlement; the destruction of Advisory Committee records; testing and research without consent; and questions surrounding UKHCDO and the National Haemophilia Database.
Part Four of Five
Corporate responsibility, compensation and remembrance
Jason examines the responsibility of pharmaceutical companies and the difficulty of holding successor corporations to account. His evidence also addresses industry funding, the failure to achieve self-sufficiency, continued imports of commercial products, complaints and withheld records, the case for compensation, the exclusion of bereaved families from financial support and the need for a government-funded memorial.
Part Five of Five
Openness, accountability and a final statement
Following questions submitted during the final break, Jason returns to treatment batch histories and sets out proposals for greater openness, candour and reform of Freedom of Information law. Sir Brian Langstaff asks what the end of campaigning might mean personally. Jason closes by remembering his father, thanking those who fought alongside him and paying tribute to the victims and campaigners who died.
The official record
Jason’s complete evidence can also be read in the official transcript published by the Infected Blood Inquiry.