• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Serco handed test-and-trace contract with no penalties for poor performance

Helen Whately - the health minister - revealed that “contractual penalties” were “not included in test-and-trace contracts with Serco”.

Henry Goodwin by Henry Goodwin
October 15, 2020
in Politics

Outsourcing giants Serco and Sitel were handed huge test-and-trace contracts – without any threat of penalties should they fail to meet targets.

In a written response to former Brexit secretary David Davis, Helen Whately – the health minister – revealed that “contractual penalties” were “not included in test-and-trace contracts with Serco”.

Whately justified the omission by claiming that “contractual penalties are often unenforceable under English law”.

You might have noticed that NHS Test and Trace, the £12bn service supposed to tell us who has the virus and where, isn't yet world class in the way @BorisJohnson promised it would be. On 10 Sept @DavidDavisMP asked @MattHancock whether Serco and Sitel…

— Robert Peston (@Peston) October 14, 2020

The astonishing revelation comes as Boris Johnson’s flailing test-and-trace system came under fresh criticism after it reported its worst ever figures for tracking down those with “close contacts” of people who had tested positive for Covid-19.

Test and Trace failing

Just 62.6 per cent of cases in England were reached and told to self-isolate – the worst since NHS Test and Trace, which has been largely outsourced to companies like Serco, was launched in May.

It means that nearly one third of all people who have been in contact with someone testing positive have not been reached, and have thus not been instructed to quarantine for 14 days.

SAGE experts have previously advised that the test-and-trace system can only function effectively if a minimum of 80 per cent of “close contacts” are tracked down and told to self-isolate.

RelatedPosts

Joe Exotic has limo waiting in anticipation of presidential pardon

He would say that now wouldn’t he? People ‘mistaken’ to think PM wanted second Trump term

Test and Trace is paying Deloitte nearly a million pounds every day

Brandon Lewis – NI empty shelves ‘nothing to do with Brexit’

NHS Test and Trace is fronted by Tory peer Dido Harding, and had been roundly attacked for its use of firms like Deloitte and Serco – which it has now emerged have largely been operating without accountability.

In September, Davis asked the Department of Health and Social Care “what performance targets are in place for commercial providers of track and trace functions; what penalties can be imposed for failure to meet those targets; and what penalties have already been imposed for failure to meet those targets.”

‘Often unenforceable’

Earlier this week – over a month later – Whately responded: “Contractual penalties are often unenforceable under English law so they were not included in test and trace contracts with Serco or Sitel. 

“Sitel and Serco are approved suppliers on the Crown Commercial Service contact centre framework and the contracts have standard performance and quality assurance processes in place. 

“Some information on Key Performance Indicators and service levels has been redacted from these published contracts as it is considered to be commercially sensitive.

“The contracts have break clauses in them, meaning if the company does not meet required service levels we may cancel the contract and reclaim our money.”

Related: How is Dido Harding still in job? As it is revealed private consultants paid £7,000 a DAY

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 .

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The other prison pandemic

Credit;PA

Repressionomics: Get ready for the new permanent austerity

Latest from TLE

From insurrection to impeachment: The ignominious final days of Trump

Arab League urges Biden to reject Trump’s Palestine policies

How Poetry can bring people together

Credit;PA

Would you get on one? Boeing 737 Max cleared to fly again in Europe from next week

About Us

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

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

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




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

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