The Incredible Disappearing Test & Trace Parliamentary Answer

Yesterday Green MP Caroline Lucas received a written ministerial answer from the Department for Health and Social Care in response to her question on a contract awarded to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on test and trace, which the media had reported included paying individual consultants £7,000 per day. (“Test-and-trace consultants are being paid £7,000 a day,” The Times, 15 October 2020; www.thetimes.co.uk/article/test-and-trace-consultants-are-being-paid-7-000-a-day-ngl8vlqvw; “Coronavirus: Gove defends £7,000 day rate for test-and-trace consultants,” Sky News, 18 October 2020; https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-gove-defends-7-000-day-rate-for-test-and-trace-consultants-12107394) It took the department three months to produce the reply. The Parliamentary rule of thumb is an answer should normally be provided within five working days. On 11th November, nearly three weeks after asking her original question, Caroline Lucas asked the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, when he planned to answer the original question that had been tabled (submitted) on 16 October 2020 on BCG. Junior health minister, Edward Argar, replied on 30 November: “We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.” He closed by adding “The hon. Member’s (Lucas) question will be answered as soon as possible.(https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-11-11/114133) In between Dr Lucas asking this clarification questi0on and getting an answer, at Prime Minister's questions on Wednesday 25 November 2020 (Hansard at Column 818), Labour Leader Keir Starmer asked the following pertinent question: “Where do I start on this one? Last week, we learned that suppliers with political connections were 10 times more likely to be awarded Government contracts, and this week The Sunday Times reports that the Health Secretary appointed one of his closest friends to a key advisory role. This friend also is a major shareholder, as it happens, in a firm that specialises in lobbying the Government on behalf of its clients, and some of those clients have secured tens of millions of pounds of Government contracts during the pandemic. Was the Prime Minister aware of this apparent conflict of interest? Prime Minister Boris Johnson answered, saying, inter alia, “In so far as there are any conflicts of interest, they will be evident from the publication of all the details of all the contracts.” (https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2020-11-25/debates/FA145A50-F2C7-45C7-8CEF-51F0B5AF23D3/Engagements) A week later, Mr Argar appeared before the House of Commons Procedure Committee to explain why his department had been so late in answering correspondence from MPs and PQs (https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/126/procedure-committee/news/136919/committee-questions-minister-on-department-of-health-performance-in-answering-parliamentary-questions/). He said to the committee there were some 1500 written PQs that were still late being answered by Health ministers. The average delay peaked at 14.8 days in October, it rose to 20 days in November, and by early December had dropped again 13.3 days (https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/1405/html/) But Dr Lucas had to wait another 42 further days, on top of the delay to that date to receive her reply. Her specific question had been: “To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was chosen as a contractor to conduct consultancy work on test and trace; on what date the contract was signed; whether it was signed under special pandemic powers that bypass normal tendering processes; what the value is of the BCG contract; what the process was for agreeing the day rates in that contract; whether he plans to publish the BCG contract in line with Government procurement rules that Departments must publish a contract award notice within 30 days of agreement; and if he will make a statement?”(https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-10-16/104712) Junior Heath minister, Helen Whately - not Mr Argar for some reason- was the minister chosen to substantively respond. She said: “Boston Consultancy Group are an approved supplier on the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework contract. They gained their place on the framework through fair and open competition via an Official Journal of the European Union procurement. Value for money and capability were part of the assessment criteria. The contract award date was 24 April 2020 and the contract start date was 27 April 2020. The pay rates of individual consultants engaged from each supplier is commercially sensitive information. Payment rates are as per the CCS rate card with discounts attained depending on value and length of role. All the Departmental COVID-19 contracts are published on the GOV.UK Contract Finder Service, which contains information on the award criteria for each individual contract.” (emphasis added) It does not seem such a very complicated answer that would demand three months of brain work of civil servants and a minister to compile. It is also inaccurate! I visited the Government’s Contract Finder site, to find out the details of this particular contract that they had deemed able to be made public. The answer turns out to be absolutely nothing. The contract is not included at all in the BCG contracts. Below is the full list of BCG contracts listed since April 2020, the month n which Ms Whately claims the BCG contract was awarded. It does not appear! So much for the inordinate three month delay - to reveal absolutely nothing. Astonishing and depressing. https://bidstats.uk/tenders/?q=boston+consulting+group&scope=supplier UK – Boston Consulting Group Contracts Filters: Refine Supplier report Found 32 notices in past year. December 2020 Department of Health & Social Care • Enablement Strategy award: Boston Consulting Group £357K Department of Health & Social Care DHSC Test & Trace • Programme Support to TTCE Area Phase 3 award: Boston Consulting Group £6.3M • 4PL and Lab Operational Support award: Boston Consulting Group £1.6M November 2020 Cabinet Office Cabinet Office • Retrospective award: Boston Consulting Group £693K Department of Health & Social Care • Boston Consulting Group - Mass Testing Strategic Support award: Boston Consulting Group £4.6M • Boston Consulting Group - Strategic Delivery award: Boston Consulting Group £2.8M • End to End Operational Process award: Boston Consulting Group £630K October 2020 Cabinet Office Cabinet Office • Consultancy Task Force award: Boston Consulting Group £1.6M Department for International Trade • Defend Phase 2 award: Boston Consulting Group £2.4M • Defend Phase 2 award: Boston Consulting Group £2.4M September 2020 Health Family • Strategic Support for the COVID-19 Test, Track and Trace Programme award: Boston Consulting Group £5M Health Family • Digital Support for NHS Test & Trace Service award: Boston Consulting Group £5M August 2020 DCLG • Test, Track and Trace - PMO Support award: Boston Consulting Group LPP £355K DEFRA Network Etendering Portal • Support - Defra PEL 006C award: Boston Consulting Group £458K • Support - Defra PEL 006C award: Boston Consulting Group £458K • Support - Defra PEL 006C award: Boston Consulting Group £458K • Support - Defra PEL 033C award: Boston Consulting Group £437K Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy • UK Vaccine Taskforce - Advisory Support on Manufacturing Strategy & Delivery award: Boston Consulting Group £731K Homes England the Name Adopted by the Homes & Communities Agency • Homes England - CCS MCF - Transformation Business Case and Set-Up - BCG award: Boston Consulting Group £6.1M Department for International Development • Accelerated COVID Economic Support (ACES) award: Boston Consulting Group £4.5M July 2020 MOD • MOD Professional Services Support - FOR award: Boston Consulting Group June 2020 Crown Commercial Service • Cabinet Office Consultancy Support for EU Exit award: Boston Consulting Group Department for International Trade • Project Defend - Phase 1 Supply Chain Resilience for Non-Food Critical Items award: Boston Consulting Group £663K May 2020 Cabinet Office Cabinet Office • Consultancy for COP26 Support award: Boston Consulting Group £984K March 2020 Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust UHCW University Hospitals • 200000000.00 award: 57 suppliers £200M • Consultancy and Advisory Services award: 45 suppliers £100M • Consultancy and Advisory Services award: 19 suppliers £25M Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust UHCW University Hospitals • Consultancy and Advisory Services award: 24 suppliers £25M Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government • Grenfell Site Programme - Strategic Consulting Services award: Boston Consulting Group £5M Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust UHCW University Hospitals • Consultancy and Advisory Services award: 19 suppliers £30M