We asked DHSC how this serious failure could have occurred and what it was doing about it. DHSC’s Second Permanent Secretary confirmed that there was no record from that time which was “extremely disappointing” and said she had improved record keeping in DHSC and hoped a similar omission would not occur now. She told us there were a lot of discussions about scheme selection for HIP. Her predecessor told her he was satisfied that the decisions were made on an appropriate basis. We asked whether interventions in respect of ministers’ or special advisors’ political priorities might have caused the evidence- based shortlist to change in a way that was not appropriate. The Second Permanent could only say that she was “pretty confident” that her predecessor would have been “pretty confident” in calling out such behaviour.66