Parliamentary group urges government to stop awarding manufacturing giant Altrad contracts until it pays £10m to fund asbestos cancer research

1. The government upholds the Forum’s request that Cape/Altrad pays £10 million to charity Asthma + Lung UK  

2. The government refrains from awarding any government contracts to Cape/Altrad and/or any of their parent companies, subsidiaries or associated companies until such a donation is made 

3. The government establishes a national asbestos removal strategy by developing and funding a phased removal of asbestos from all public buildings, starting with schools and hospitals.   

The hearing to investigate the legacy of Cape PLC, one of the largest manufacturers of asbestos products in the world was held on 24 March 2025

Cape manufactured Asbestos Insulation Board (AIB), trade name Asbestolux. Asbestolux is present in many schools, hospitals, offices, banks, and other public buildings in the UK.

The Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum UK (the Forum), represented by Harminder Bains, fought a legal case to allow the Forum to have access to Cape’s historical documents. This case was successful in the Supreme Court as the court ordered that Cape give the Forum these documents which revealed that Cape knew that Asbestolux released asbestos fibres and posed a high risk to health.  

Peter Gartside, former Managing Director of Cape PLC, gave evidence to APPGOSH that there was deliberate concealment of these known dangers simply for profit.  

APPGOSH heard evidence from Harminder Bains, Partner and Joint Head of Asbestos and Industrial Disease at Leigh Day, together with Tony Whitston, John Flanagan, and Nevyn Stevenson, representing the Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum UK.

Additional witnesses included experts Dr Robin Rudd, Professor Peter Szlosarek, Dr Astero Klampatsa, Christopher Chambers, and Trade Unionists Sarah Lyons and Michael Phillips. 

These witnesses described a pattern of Cape PLC’s corporate denial, suppression of vital health information, and a refusal to accept responsibility.  

Ran Oren, CEO of Altrad and Director of Cape Intermediate Holdings Limited, was invited to attend the hearing, but did not attend.  

Evidence was given explaining why it was necessary to have £10m paid in one lump sum. It will allow a core group of people to come together with a secure future of funding, ensuring that long-term projects can be undertaken without scientists having to constantly scramble for money to keep going year to year.  

Dr Robin Rudd, Professor Sanjay Popat, and Professor Sir Anthony Newman Taylor recommended that the £10m donation be paid to Asthma + Lung UK as this charity has experience in dealing with large scale medical trials.  

Harminder Bains explained that Cape continues to vigorously defend court cases brought by sufferers of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. She gave evidence of Cape’s conduct which included threats by Cape’s lawyers to report lawyers representing victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases to the Solicitors Regulations Authority (SRA) simply as a consequence the lawyer requesting documents from Cape. In such cases, Cape’s lawyers have asked the victim’s lawyer to recuse themselves from bringing cases against Cape.

Tony Whitston gave evidence of Cape/Altrad misleading and misrepresenting negotiations which had taken place.

The full evidence submitted to the APPGOSH can be found here.

Click here to watch Mesothelioma and Me; a series of short videos that powerfully spotlight the dangers of asbestos.

Read the APPG report here.

Harminder Bains said: 

“Currently, it is the taxpayer who is having to fund the medical care which is provided to mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease sufferers via the already under-resourced NHS. It is therefore not just and equitable for Cape/Altrad to continue to receive contracts worth millions of pounds from the government.”

“In addition, the government needs to take into account the reports that Altrad’s President, Mohed Altrad, was found guilty of corruption, including fraud and bribery, in the French Courts and was fined and given an 18-month suspended sentence. The government needs to consider the Procurement Act 2023 which lists bribery as one of the grounds for mandatory exclusion from awards of government contracts.

“Mesothelioma is one of the most severe cancers and research into a cure has been underfunded to date and it will remain a major problem because asbestos is found in thousands of buildings throughout the UK.”