Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said today the Government is "committed" to helping those who lost loved ones in the Hillsborough Disaster.

Hundreds of official documents about the tragedy could be made public for the first time following high level discussions, Ms Smith said.

Ninety six Liverpool supporters died in a crush at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989 where their team was to meet Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi final.

In a statement, the Home Secretary said: "The Government is committed to helping those who lost loved ones in the Hillsborough tragedy.

"That is why I will be working with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Attorney General's Office to put out any information that exists that could shed light on the disaster and its aftermath in the public domain as soon as possible."

The 20th anniversary of the tragedy, Britain's worst sporting disaster, was marked with memorial services in all three cities last Wednesday.

The victims' families have been fighting for further inquiries into the deaths.

They believe a Major Incident Plan was never initiated by South Yorkshire police and fans in the Leppings Lane end were denied emergency medical attention.

The families also dispute the findings of the single inquest into all 96 deaths, which ruled the victims were all dead, or brain dead, by 3.15pm and which subsequently recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Trevor Hicks, of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, said today: "We have heard that a request has been made about the documents and we are expecting confirmation this week.

"I am pleased, it's better late than never.
"This will enable us to see the full picture of events in a way that we have been denied for 20 years.

"It is vital that these files are released in full and not sanitised in any way."

The documents covered by the 30-year-rule could include police files and the records of other emergency services, government departments and the local authorities.

The families say they are particularly keen to see the minutes of a meeting between then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and senior South Yorkshire police officers which they say took place on the Sunday morning after the disaster.

"We believe that a decision was made at that meeting that the police would not be blamed for what happened," Mr Hicks said.

"We would like to see the minutes of the meeting, to know what the Prime Minister was told and what decisions were taken."

A statement by South Yorkshire Police said: "The Chief Constable has not met the Home Secretary on the subject of Hillsborough, nor been asked by anyone to release files early.

"The Chief Constable, prior to the anniversary, independently offered to review all material held by South Yorkshire Police to establish what could lawfully be released, given that the force has already made public so much of its archived information."

Many of the Hillsborough families returned from Wembley Stadium today where they took part in an FA memorial service on the pitch yesterday.

It came after Liverpool's reserve goalkeeper Charles Itandje apologised for his behaviour during a memorial service last week.

The 26-year-old was pictured laughing and fooling around during the solemn service at Anfield.
He has been suspended for two weeks while the club holds an inquiry.