Duty of Candour - Scotland and Wales Review
Infected Blood Inquiry · Infected Blood Inquiry Final Report · Issued 20 May 2024 · Addressed to: UK Government, Scottish Government
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Duty of candour:
The operation of the duties of candour in healthcare in Scotland and in Wales should be reviewed, as it is being in England, to assess how effective its operation has been in practice. Since the duty was introduced in 2023 in Wales, the review there need not be immediate, but should be no later than the end of 2026.
Infected Blood Inquiry, Infected Blood Inquiry Final Report · 20 May 2024 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Welsh Government stated in December 2024 that the Health and Social Care (Quality and Engagement) (Wales) Act 2020 introduced a duty of candour in 2023, and that a tender specification for evaluation research was underway (Government Response to the Infected Blood Inquiry, Cabinet Office, December 2024).
- No published review findings for either Scotland or Wales have been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government — initial response
Scottish Government
The organisational duty of candour provisions of the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 and the Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2018 set out the procedure that organisations providing health services, care services and social work services in Scotland are required by law to follow when there has been an unintended or unexpected incident that results in, or could result in, death or harm (or additional treatment is required to prevent injury that would result in death or harm).
The Scottish Government published non-statutory guidance to support the introduction of the Regulations in 2018. This guidance has recently been reviewed in conjunction with stakeholders across health care and social work sectors to take account of recent learning including learning identified from the Covid-19 pandemic. The revised non-statutory guidance was published in April and distributed to health, care and social work services.
The Scottish Government will begin engagement with stakeholders on its review of the operation of the organisational duty of candour in June 2025.
Welsh Government
The impact of the Health and Social Care (Quality and Engagement) (Wales) Act 2020 which introduced the duty of candour in Wales in 2023, will be evaluated. The recommendation as laid out in the IBI inquiry report will be integrated into the specification out to tender for the evaluation research programme.
The Welsh Government welcomes any learning from the English review to add to intelligence informing any review of the Welsh NHS duty of candour.
UK Government · 14 May 2025 Written response →
●Scottish Government — follow-up
Scotland published updated non-statutory guidance in April 2025 and began stakeholder engagement in June 2025. Wales committed to evaluate the 2020 Act's impact by end of 2026.
Scottish Government · 14 May 2025 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 19 Jan 2026 · UK Parliament Public Office (Accountability) Bill 2024-26 ("Hillsborough Law") introduced September 2025, passed Commons January 2026, progressing through Lords. Creates statutory duty of candour for public authorities with criminal sanctions. View source → Reasonable Progress
- 15 Jan 2026 · IBCA Community Update As of 13 January 2026: 3,721 people asked to start claims, 3,546 begun process, 3,074 received offers totalling £2.47bn, 2,861 paid totalling £1.89bn. Third compensation regulations in force 31 December 2025. View source → Good Progress
- 28 Oct 2025 · IBCA Independent Review IBCA has contacted 2,215 people to begin compensation claims; 1,934 started process. £812m+ paid via Horizon Shortfall Scheme. £11.8bn committed in Autumn Budget. View source → Reasonable Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.