Monday, June 28, 2021
Hancock affair continues to unravel
If Matt Hancock thought that his resignation as the English Health Secretary was going to be a clean break with the past then he has another think coming. The Independent reports that he is facing an investigation after using a personal email account to conduct government affairs, in breach of UK guidelines.
It is alleged that Hancock regularly used a private email account for government dealings since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began, thereby concealing information from officials and potentially from the public:
The disclosure was reportedly revealed in minutes from a meeting between senior officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
David Williams, the department’s second permanent secretary, warned that Mr Hancock “only” deals with his office “via Gmail account”.
Mr Williams said the health secretary did not even have an official email as he warned that the government could not freely access personal email records, with the “threshold” for requesting them having “to be substantial”.
He also said that junior health minister Lord Bethell also used a personal email account for government business.
The alleged breach of guidelines would mean that the government does not have records on all of Mr Hancock’s exchanges, including key negotiations on multimillion-pound contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) and emails setting up the £37 billion test and trace programme.
Mr Hancock’s private email exchanges also would have included talks on the government’s widely criticised care homes strategy.
If this is correct then it will severely hamper any inquiry into the government's handling of Covid, as well as reinforcing the lack of transparency around the awarding of contracts and a whole host of other issues.
It is alleged that Hancock regularly used a private email account for government dealings since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began, thereby concealing information from officials and potentially from the public:
The disclosure was reportedly revealed in minutes from a meeting between senior officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
David Williams, the department’s second permanent secretary, warned that Mr Hancock “only” deals with his office “via Gmail account”.
Mr Williams said the health secretary did not even have an official email as he warned that the government could not freely access personal email records, with the “threshold” for requesting them having “to be substantial”.
He also said that junior health minister Lord Bethell also used a personal email account for government business.
The alleged breach of guidelines would mean that the government does not have records on all of Mr Hancock’s exchanges, including key negotiations on multimillion-pound contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) and emails setting up the £37 billion test and trace programme.
Mr Hancock’s private email exchanges also would have included talks on the government’s widely criticised care homes strategy.
If this is correct then it will severely hamper any inquiry into the government's handling of Covid, as well as reinforcing the lack of transparency around the awarding of contracts and a whole host of other issues.
