Matt Hancock acted unlawfully when his department did not reveal details of contracts it had signed during the Covid pandemic, a court has ruled.
The Department for Health and Social Care has struck deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds during the coronavirus pandemic.Campaign group the Good Law Project and three MPs - Labour's Debbie Abrahams, Green Caroline Lucas and Lib Dem Layla Moran - took legal action against the department over its "wholesale failure" to disclose details of the contracts agreed.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: "There is now no dispute that, in a substantial number of cases, the secretary of state breached his legal obligation to publish contract award notices within 30 days of the award of contracts. "The public were entitled see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded," he added.
He said it was "understandable that attention was focused on procuring what was thought necessary to save lives". "This has often meant having to award contracts at speed to secure the vital supplies required to protect NHS workers and the public."