Sir David King, a former government chief scientist, in an interview in The Guardian has accused Boris Johnson’s government of corruption, privatising the NHS by stealth, operating a “chumocracy” and … Read more
commissioning
Hinpack, which is owned by Alex Bourne, an acquaintance of Matt Hancock and the former landlord of his local pub, which won a contract to produce Covid test vials for the NHS is … Read more
A high court judge has ruled that the health secretary, Matt Hancock, acted unlawfully by failing to publish multibillion-pound Covid-19 government contracts within the 30-day period required by law. The judge, … Read more
Transparency in public office is essential to any democracy, but the UK government’s aversion to scrutiny of its procurement track record during the pandemic – an aversion now the focus … Read more
A leaked version of the new NHS White Paper has confirmed the government’s plan to remove the much criticised competition rules, which allow commercial companies to bid for a vast array of … Read more
The Times reports that Andrew Mills, a former government adviser who brokered the bungled £250 million PPE contract with Ayanda Capital, has used an obscure change in company status to … Read more
Claims by Matt Hancock, Simon Stevens and other senior figures from NHS England that the private hospital sector should be regarded as a permanent “partner” of the NHS after the block booking … Read more
The British logistics company, Uniserve, was awarded Covid-19-related contracts worth around £800m in 2020, all of which were awarded without an open tender. This makes the company the largest recipient … Read more
A Guardian investigation has found that England’s test and trace service is being sub-contracted to a myriad of private companies employing inexperienced contact tracers under pressure to meet targets. Serco, … Read more
The government has refused to publish a list of companies that benefited from being put in the ‘high-priority’ lane for Covid-19 contract work. It has also refused to reveal who … Read more
The Guardian reports that the government’s £22bn test-and-trace system has failed to reach more than 100,000 people exposed to coronavirus in England’s worst-hit areas since the second wave began with … Read more
It seems that not a day goes past without a new revelation of wrongdoing or bad practice in the process of signing contracts with the private sector, this includes sub-standard … Read more
The Guardian reports that in what appear to be a breach of the law, the government has failed to publish any information about £4bn of Covid-related contracts awarded to private … Read more
The HSJ has reported that a contract published by the Department of Health and Social Care showed that it had hired the management consultancy McKinsey to work on a significant NHS technology … Read more
A series of contract awards, which total £1.6 bn, published for the first time shows that Circle Health and Spire Healthcare were handed the largest contracts to provide extra staff … Read more
HSJ reports that private hospital providers have been asked to apply to a new procurement framework worth up to £10bn, from which NHS organisations will purchase additional capacity for up to … Read more
The FT reports that the UK government has awarded £10bn worth of contracts related to the coronavirus crisis to private companies since March, mostly without a competitive tender. The research … Read more
MPs have launched legal action over the government’s failure to disclose details of its spending on contracts related to the pandemic, as it emerged that it has failed to account … Read more
On 1 October 2020, NHS England passed its budget for specialist mental health services to 10 groups of providers across England, but plans show that even after changes, there will be a … Read more
Covid-19 contracts The Covid-19 pandemic beginning in March 2020 began several months of intense contracting activity by government departments. By mid-January 2021, the UK government had awarded £21.6 bn worth of … Read more
