Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham, will give evidence under oath to the contaminated blood scandal inquiry later – the first senior health minister from the time to testify.
Around 3,000 people died after being given blood products containing HIV and hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s.
As late as November 1983 the government said it was not conclusively proven that HIV could be transmitted through blood products, however by then officials were already aware of deaths linked to the treatment.
Lord Clarke was a Conservative health minister in the early 1980s when up to 30,000 people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were given contaminated blood products.
It has been called the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history.
The evidence under oath of someone who served as health minister at the time marks a significant moment for survivors and their relatives, who campaigned for years to bring about the inquiry, saying the risks of the blood products were never explained and the scandal was covered up.
Victims of the scandal were given a clotting agent called Factor VIII which had been imported from the US, where it was made from plasma donated by prisoners and other groups at risk from blood-borne viruses.
By the mid-1980s, once HIV was better understood, the blood products were heat-treated to kill the viruses, however this was not before thousands of people were infected.
By November 1983, when the government said publicly there was “no conclusive evidence” HIV could be transmitted in the blood products, health officials knew of deaths linked to the treatment and assumed infection was possible.
Hundreds of people infected with HIV or hepatitis C and their family members have given evidence at sites across the UK.
Evidence hearings are due to continue next year with the final report expected to be published in 2022 or 2023.
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