• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

‘Shameful legacy of Government’s Covid mishandling’ as report on private contract cronyism published

“Instead of spending taxpayer billions lining the pockets of line the pockets of Tory chums – Ministers should do the decent thing and give our frontline public sector heroes a decent pay rise.”

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2020-11-18 10:55
in News
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Ministers set aside normal standards of transparency as they scrambled to secure £18 billion of supplies and services in response to the coronavirus crisis, the public spending watchdog has concluded.

Firms recommended by MPs, peers and ministers’ offices were given priority as the Government raced against the rest of the world to acquire personal protective equipment (PPE) , the National Audit Office found.

Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the failings uncovered in the NAO report may be the “tip of the iceberg” and called for ministers to “come clean” and publish all information about the contracts awarded.

Findings

The report found:

– By July 31 more than 8,600 contracts with a value of £18 billion had been awarded, including £10.5 billion without any competition process.

– A “high-priority lane” was established for firms referred to the PPE team by officials, ministers’ offices, MPs, peers and senior NHS staff, with about one in ten companies going through this route getting a contract, compared with one in 100 for those in the “ordinary lane”.

– Contracts were awarded retrospectively after work was carried out, including a £3.2 million agreement with Deloitte to support the PPE team and an £840,000 deal with Public First for focus groups.

RelatedPosts

As Post Office and BT workers to strike it’s worth watching this Mick Lynch and Eddie Dempsey interview

Train drivers industrial action on Saturday as NHS staff ‘prepared to strike’

Life’s a beach: Johnson isn’t taking Sunak’s calls as his £400k pool is installed

Good news for bloodthirsty toffs bad news for birds: Grouse shooting season begins

– There was “inadequate documentation” in a number of cases on how risks, including potential conflicts of interest, had been managed.

– Many of the contracts awarded were not published in a timely manner.

Chum’s pockets

GMB, the union for public sector workers, says the NAO’s report on the Government’s private contract cronyism is another shameful legacy of its mishandling of the covid crisis. 

Rehana Azam, GMB National Secretary, said: “Throughout this pandemic, GMB has called for openness and transparency on how Government contracts are awarded. More importantly, we’ve called for in-house options to be the preferred providers of services. 

“But as this report shows, Tory cronyism is alive and well across the heart of Government.  

To this lot it’s obviously who you know not what you know that counts. 

“Privatising our key workers access to PPE while handling these contracts to their mates, and then trying to hide the admin from the public is all part of this Government’s shameful legacy of how it handled of the Covid-19 pandemic.” 

“Instead of spending taxpayer billions lining the pockets of line the pockets of Tory chums – Ministers should do the decent thing and give our frontline public sector heroes a decent pay rise.” 

Related: Damning government spending report findings “the tip of the iceberg”

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Multi-millionaire jailed for selling drug as cancer cure moans about life in prison

Phoenix – Film Review

Boris Johnson regretted backing Brexit – according to his new spin doctor

One in three Brits voted tactically in December election, new research shows

Peter Stefanovic slams Boris for claiming post-Brexit Britain is thriving

BBC stage anti-lockdown sceptic as ambulances queue outside hospitals

Londongrad’s family feuds stretch the limits of British courts

‘I don’t fancy your brother’, Dorries tells Rachel Johnson live on air

How To Make: Coconut Cake Balls

Beer of the Week – ORA Gioele

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.