A High Court judge ordered that both the former health secretary’s government and non-government communications used for Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) business should be searched for relevant material.
The proceedings were brought against the DHSC by the Good Law Project, who claim that more than £80m in contracts were awarded unlawfully. The legal campaign group say that Abingdon Health received three contracts in April, June and August 2020 that were not published until October.
The Good Law Project also claim that the contracts were awarded secretly and directly to Abingdon Health without advertisement or competition and that they “comprise very substantial unlawful public subsidies”.
Mr Hancock has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that he was not involved in the awarding of the contracts and that they were approved through formal processes.
Petitioning the High Court to order a search of the former health secretary’s “non-government communication systems” — which is believed to include WhatsApps — Good Law Project barrister Joseph Barrett said that Mr Hancock was the “ultimate decision-maker” in awarding the contracts and that he had used multiple personal email accounts for government business.