“THERE is still a long way to go before the government’s house is in order” – these were the words of the Good Law Project after its High Court transparency win.
The Friday ruling saw a judge confirm that Matt Hancock’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had acted unlawfully by failing to disclose key information about public money pandemic contracts.
The UK Government says it’s had to work fast on contracts for PPE provision and more.
But the judge said the failing to publish contract details was a “historic failure”. “The public were entitled see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded,” he said.
READ MORE: Conservative ‘corruption’ puts UK at turning point, SNP MP says
But questions remain over many aspects of the UK Government’s handling of public procurement over the last year.
The National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, revealed a “fast track” bidding process for firms linked to Tory MPs, ministers and officials late last year.
The SNP wants to change the law and Labour this week wrote to senior Tories for details on the awarding of £2billion-worth of business to companies linked to Conservative MPs or ministers, or to party donors.
Some of the stories to emerge so far include that of Lerwick-based Globus (Shetland) Ltd, which has contributed more than £375,000 to the Conservatives’ coffers since 2016 and last year secured a PPE deal worth £93.7 million.
They also include that of Alex Bourne, a former neighbour of Hancock’s whose Hinpack plastic-cup-and-takeaway-box firm landed a contract worth around £30m to provide tens of millions of Covid-19 test vials for the NHS after sending the minister a WhatsApp message.
READ MORE: UK Government broke law by failing to disclose PPE contracts, High Court rules
And Katie Bingham, head of the Vaccine Taskforce, spent £670,000 of public money on hiring PR consultants through a firm called Admiral Associates, whose secretary is a long-standing business associate of Dominic Cummings’ father-in-law.
Cummings himself, it emerged this week in a submission to the High Court, “expected” civil servants to hire a firm run by his “friends” to research the public’s understanding of coronavirus in a deal worth around £560,000.
The former Downing Street spin doctor said the company, Public First, were “only company with the expertise to carry out the required focus groups urgently”.
Its founders are also friends with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove.
Meanwhile, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi was last month forced to distance himself from Warren Medical, the June-established firm in which his wife Lana Saib holds a controlling interest.
Zahawi said the company was set up for a “property project to invest in a brain injury rehabilitation centre” which ultimately “didn’t happen”.
The link is not detailed in Zahawi’s register of MPs interests, but the rules over this do not cover family interests.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon blasts Dominic Cummings' admission about Covid contract
He said: “Nothing that my wife runs or my family runs has anything to do with supply, doesn’t have anything to do with government at all.”
DHSC said: “We have been working tirelessly to deliver what is needed to protect our health and social care staff throughout this pandemic, within very short timescales and against a background of unparalleled global demand.
“This has often meant having to award contracts at speed to secure the vital supplies required.”
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