Archive
20 February 2010
Guidance for Providing a Witness Statement
Some additional information is now available for anyone who is interested in providing a witness statement or has agreed to make a statement to the Inquiry. If you, or someone in your family, has contracted HIV or Hepatitis C from blood or blood products administered by the NHS in Scotland, you may wish to make a statement. These documents aim to provide helpful advice. Please click on a link to download a copy.
Leaflet - I have been asked to provide a witness statement - What should I expect?
Guidance on Providing a Witness Statement
19 November 2009
New Procedural Direction
Lord Penrose has issued the following direction: Inquiry Procedure Direction No 3.1 - Applications for legal representation at public expense.
The Direction together with an application form are available in the Procedures section of this website. They replace the previous Inquiry Procedure Direction No 3 - applications for legal representation at public expense, which applied only to those providing a witness statement or documents during Phase 1 of the Inquiry. The new procedure direction applies not only to persons providing a witness statement and/or documents to the Inquiry, but also to those claiming such a particular interest in the Inquiry as to justify the funding of their legal representation at public expense.
Click here for a Word version of the application form.
Click here for a PDF version of the application form.
Amended Terms of Reference
Lord Penrose has agreed to a request from Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, to investigate three further deaths as part of the Inquiry. These are in addition to the deaths of the Reverend David Black and Mrs Eileen O’Hara, which are already within the Inquiry’s terms of reference. As a consequence, term of reference number 6 has been amended to:
‘To investigate the deaths of Reverend David Black, Mrs Eileen O’Hara, Alexander Black Laing, Neil Mullen and Victor Tamburrini, with particular reference to the circumstances in which they became infected with the Hepatitis C virus, HIV or both.’
The full Terms of Reference can be found at: www.penroseinquiry.org.uk/terms-of-reference
The below form has now been superseded by application form 3.1, which can be found in the Procedures section of the website.
Procedure Direction No 3
30 September 2009
Lord Penrose hopes that more people who have been affected, and their relatives, will come forward to give statements. Anyone who contracted Hepatitis C or HIV through receiving blood or blood products administered by the NHS in Scotland, or their family members, can make a statement to the inquiry team. Lord Penrose also asks anyone with any relevant documents to consider making them available to the inquiry.
The Penrose Inquiry team has sent out posters and leaflets to all GP surgeries, all community pharmacies and all Haemophilia Centres in Scotland to raise awareness of the inquiry. We are grateful for the help and co-operation we have received from contacts across Scotland. The poster invites people who contracted Hepatitis C and/or HIV through receiving blood or blood products administered by the NHS in Scotland, or members of their families, to come forward to make a statement to the inquiry team. Click here to download a pdf version of the poster if you wish to display it.
25 August 2009
A number of witnesses have responded to Lord Penrose's call for evidence and statement taking is underway. Most witnesses have preferred to discuss their statements in their own homes but some have visited the inquiry offices in Edinburgh.
Lord Penrose said in his opening statement at the Preliminary Hearing held on 31 March: 'The only way this inquiry will be able to assess the impact of infection and the consequences for individuals and families involved will be through (their) contributions'.
