No, Hancock’s PPE contracts haven’t been ruled ‘unlawful’

The High Court has said the government acted unlawfully. It is important that is understood, because ‘unlawful’ is a word that can easily mislead.

Above all, no one should accidentally think the Court has said that any of the PPE contracts are unlawful. They are not. What the Court has said is that because, on average, the contracts were published on a website after 47 days, the Department of Health and Social Care was unlawful because it promises to publish within 30 days.

The government promised 30 days and 47 days is more than 30: that is unlawful.

PPE was needed because of the pandemic and, due to the global shortages, the Department of Health and Social Care made contracts to get PPE. The Department was then under a legal obligation to publish those contracts within 30 days because the government made that obligation. When the 30 day rule was created, the government did not add in a bit saying ‘but in the case of a global pandemic you can actually have 47 days’.