Now we know who the bastards are !!!

Good Law Project can now reveal that Michael Gove and Cabinet Office Minister Lord Agnew referred six firms down a fast track 'VIP' route to bid for lucrative Test and Trace contracts. This is the first time the names of the Ministers who referred testing firms for VIP treatment have been made public.

When we first revealed evidence of a VIP lane for politically connected suppliers to win multi-million-pound testing contracts, Government claimed that what we were saying was "completely false".

But now, after a lengthy battle with the Cabinet Office, the Government has admitted that senior Ministers Michael Gove and Lord Agnew frequently made use of a 'fast track' lane.

In an FOI response, it confirms: "a total of 6 offers of help were received to the VIP email address: covidtestingtriage @dhsc.gov.uk from the Private Office of Michael Gove and the Private Office of Lord Agnew".

Remarkably, the Cabinet Office is still refusing to publish the names of the firms that benefitted from the red carpet rolled out by Ministers, saying the "public interest favours withholding this information".

We don’t agree. Why should businesses who have the ear of a minister jump to the front of the queue, when other companies often had more experience? And why is it in the public interest to hide how the public’s money has been spent?

We will stop at nothing to unearth the names of the 'VIPs' who benefitted from a red carpet route to the Government’s eye-watering £37bn Test and Trace programme.

 

Good Law Project has successfully forced the Government to reveal the names of the 47 companies in the PPE VIP lane.

The Information Commissioner has ordered the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to disclose the names of these 47 companies to us within 35 calendar days.

The Information Commissioner wrote in her decision earlier today:

“The DHSC has not disclosed the requested information, nor advised the Commissioner that it considers it is otherwise exempt by virtue of another exemption. The DHSC has therefore failed to comply with its obligations under FOIA.”

She also warned that “failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court”.

The Immensa scandal – in which the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) found at least 43,000 people may have wrongly been given a negative Covid test result – is a powerful further reminder of the harm that can result to public health from opaque contracting arrangements with unsuitable counterparties.

As soon as the company names are shared with us, we will publish them.

Good Law Project will continue working to expose the staggering waste – and sleaze – of the £12.5bn PPE VIP bonanza.