The government’s test-and-trace system, run by Serco and several other private providers, has failed to achieve “its main objective” to cut infection levels and help Britain return to normal despite … Read more
test and trace
Immensa, a private laboratory in Wolverhampton that is under investigation for potentially issuing more than 40,000 false negative Covid tests, was not fully accredited to perform the work, contrary to … Read more
Serco has been awarded a new contract worth up to £322 million to continue running Covid-19 testing sites for another year. The company now runs 20% of centres in England and … Read more
The Guardian reports that Matt Hancock’s use of private emails that bypassed disclosure rules when doing government business have come under scrutiny, as exchanges emerged showing the former health secretary … Read more
A report from the National Audit Office has found that almost 600m lateral flow tests given to the public in England may not yet have been used and that the … Read more
Two contracts for contact tracers with Serco and Sitel have been extended by six months by the Department of Health and Social Care for an additional cost of £168m. Serco … Read more
A report by a local council in the North East of England has found that failures in England’s Test and Trace system are partly responsible for a surge in the … Read more
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has paid out more than £38 million after reneging on a pre-contract arrangement with a provider of COVID-19 testing services. An NHS … Read more
The cross-part public accounts committee has found that there is no evidence to show that the government’s £22bn test-and-trace programme to combat Covid-19 in England contributed to a reduction in … Read more
The Guardian has reported that a PR firm owned by Matthew Freud, who was closely associated with the Conservatives during David Cameron’s time as prime minister, was awarded a contract to provide … Read more
The government’s test and trace system run by Tory peer Dido Harding is paying nearly a million pounds every day to the private consultancy firm Deloitte. David Williams, the department of … 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 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
Randox, the Tory-linked private healthcare company whose testing kits had to be recalled over the summer because of concerns about contamination, has been awarded a new £347m Covid-19 testing contract … Read more
George Monbiot exposes how Serco and Sitel has promoted teenagers and students employed to do the simplest job in the tracing chain, calling those who have been identified as contacts … Read more
Leaked emails and texts seen by The Lowdown and other news sites have revealed moves to bolster the clinical tier of the government’s contact-tracing programme with untrained staff from outsourcing … Read more
It appears nothing succeeds more than failure. Serco, one of the two corporations with key contracts to deliver the shambolic UK “test and trace” system has picked up another extension … Read more
Boris Johnson and his chief scientific adviser have admitted to failings in England’s £12bn test-and-trace system as contact-tracing fell to a new low and waiting times for test results soared … Read more
Sky News has reported that the government is paying individual private sector consultants million-pound wages to work on its test and trace system. Some executives from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) … 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
