Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Another day, yet more government contract controversies
If I were to associate Iain Duncan Smith with any product then it would be hand sanitiser, and lo-and-behold I was right.
The Guardian reports that the former cabinet minister and past Conservative Party leader is facing questions over his £25,000-a-year second job advising a multimillion-pound hand sanitiser company after he chaired a government taskforce that recommended new rules benefiting the firm.
They say Duncan Smith chaired the Task Force on Innovation, Growth, and Regulatory Reform, which reported back in May after he and two other MPs were asked by Boris Johnson to recommend ways of cutting supposed EU red-tape. However, the fresh spotlight on moonlighting by MPs has now prompted questions about the taskforce’s recommendations that alcohol-free hand sanitisers should be formally recognised as suitable for use in the UK:
The report made no reference to Duncan Smith’s relationship with Byotrol, which provides the NHS with 92% of its non-alcohol sanitiser. It retains the former Tory leader as an adviser for £25,000 a year, according to his declaration in parliament’s register of members’ interests.
In a message to investors after the recommendations of Duncan Smith and his fellow former ministers George Freeman and Theresa Villiers, Byotrol welcomed how an “influential UK government-sponsored taskforce has recommended a regulatory ‘green light’ for alcohol-free hand sanitisers”. Its directors were also quoted in a report as saying that it delivered a “powerful boost” to the firm.
The taskforce said in its report: “Current guidelines in the UK on non-alcohol based hand sanitisers are unclear. As a result, there is confusion in industry and among consumers as to what products are safe and effective to use, and we may be unnecessarily limiting the range of sanitising products available.” It called on the government to review guidance “to place alcohol- and non-alcohol-based on a level playing field”.
The Guardian says that Byotrol, which is based in Cheshire, said in August that its revenue almost doubled and its pre-tax profits rocketed by more than 600% following “exceptional demand” for its sanitising technologies due to the pandemic. It reported a revenue of £11.2m for the 12 months to 31 March, up from £6m the previous year.
They list other Tory MPs working in the healthcare sector – in some cases for companies that have benefited from lucrative Covid-19 contracts. These include Steve Brine, a former junior health minister:
Brine works with Remedium Partners, a recruitment agency for the NHS, and also for Sigma Pharmaceuticals. NHS test and trace announced in May that Sigma would provide lateral flow device test kits to community pharmacies. Brine’s declaration in the register of members’ interests states that he is a “strategic adviser” to Sigma and receives £1,666 a month. “I am a strategic adviser to both, not a lobbyist,” he said.
Richard Fuller, the MP for North East Bedfordshire, earned £65,000 from a second job at venture capital firm Investcorp Securities Ltd, which included £30,000 for “consultancy work on the impact of Covid on portfolio companies”. Those companies included Cambio, a private health firm which secured a £63,000 NHS contract without competition from other providers.
Alun Cairns, the former Welsh secretary, took a job advising a science company, BBI Group, involved in Covid testing in July during a period when the government was under pressure to increase testing.
Meanwhile the Good Law Project has unveiled another close relationship between a PPE provider and a government minister They say the partner of Michelle Donelan, the Minister of State for Universities, heads up the commercial unit at a PPE company that has been awarded numerous PPE contracts. Stronghold Global have landed deals to supply NHS hospitals, Government Covid testing sites and universities:
They add that the potential conflict has yet to be declared by the Minister in the latest published register of interests – despite Government guidance requiring ministers to declare any interests that “might reasonably be perceived to be directly relevant to that particular Minister’s public duties”:
Donelan’s partner, Tom Turner, is the Commercial Head at family-owned firm Stronghold Global. Since the onset of the pandemic, the company has sold 20 million units of PPE to three hospital trusts: North Bristol, Sheffield Teaching Hospital Foundation, and University College London Hospital Foundation.
In March, Turner’s firm announced a partnering deal with facilities management giant Mitie to provide PPE to the Government’s Covid-19 test centres located throughout the country. The huge contract awarded to Mitie by the Department of Health and Social Care to service the testing centres is worth a staggering £365 million – with the option for this to increase in value.
Stronghold has also provided goods to the University of Bolton and HM Revenue and Customs, according to the company’s website.
Recent reports suggest Tom Turner’s father Benjamin Turner has also landed lucrative Government PPE deals. Benjamin is a director at Toffeln Ltd, a shoe-making firm that landed a £1.1m contract from the DHSC in April 2020 to supply visors. A deal awarded without competition.
The Department for Edcucation says that the Minister did declare her partner's employment but that it was "not deemed relevant for publication.” Why not? Surely transparency is needed in these situations.
They say Duncan Smith chaired the Task Force on Innovation, Growth, and Regulatory Reform, which reported back in May after he and two other MPs were asked by Boris Johnson to recommend ways of cutting supposed EU red-tape. However, the fresh spotlight on moonlighting by MPs has now prompted questions about the taskforce’s recommendations that alcohol-free hand sanitisers should be formally recognised as suitable for use in the UK:
The report made no reference to Duncan Smith’s relationship with Byotrol, which provides the NHS with 92% of its non-alcohol sanitiser. It retains the former Tory leader as an adviser for £25,000 a year, according to his declaration in parliament’s register of members’ interests.
In a message to investors after the recommendations of Duncan Smith and his fellow former ministers George Freeman and Theresa Villiers, Byotrol welcomed how an “influential UK government-sponsored taskforce has recommended a regulatory ‘green light’ for alcohol-free hand sanitisers”. Its directors were also quoted in a report as saying that it delivered a “powerful boost” to the firm.
The taskforce said in its report: “Current guidelines in the UK on non-alcohol based hand sanitisers are unclear. As a result, there is confusion in industry and among consumers as to what products are safe and effective to use, and we may be unnecessarily limiting the range of sanitising products available.” It called on the government to review guidance “to place alcohol- and non-alcohol-based on a level playing field”.
The Guardian says that Byotrol, which is based in Cheshire, said in August that its revenue almost doubled and its pre-tax profits rocketed by more than 600% following “exceptional demand” for its sanitising technologies due to the pandemic. It reported a revenue of £11.2m for the 12 months to 31 March, up from £6m the previous year.
They list other Tory MPs working in the healthcare sector – in some cases for companies that have benefited from lucrative Covid-19 contracts. These include Steve Brine, a former junior health minister:
Brine works with Remedium Partners, a recruitment agency for the NHS, and also for Sigma Pharmaceuticals. NHS test and trace announced in May that Sigma would provide lateral flow device test kits to community pharmacies. Brine’s declaration in the register of members’ interests states that he is a “strategic adviser” to Sigma and receives £1,666 a month. “I am a strategic adviser to both, not a lobbyist,” he said.
Richard Fuller, the MP for North East Bedfordshire, earned £65,000 from a second job at venture capital firm Investcorp Securities Ltd, which included £30,000 for “consultancy work on the impact of Covid on portfolio companies”. Those companies included Cambio, a private health firm which secured a £63,000 NHS contract without competition from other providers.
Alun Cairns, the former Welsh secretary, took a job advising a science company, BBI Group, involved in Covid testing in July during a period when the government was under pressure to increase testing.
Meanwhile the Good Law Project has unveiled another close relationship between a PPE provider and a government minister They say the partner of Michelle Donelan, the Minister of State for Universities, heads up the commercial unit at a PPE company that has been awarded numerous PPE contracts. Stronghold Global have landed deals to supply NHS hospitals, Government Covid testing sites and universities:
They add that the potential conflict has yet to be declared by the Minister in the latest published register of interests – despite Government guidance requiring ministers to declare any interests that “might reasonably be perceived to be directly relevant to that particular Minister’s public duties”:
Donelan’s partner, Tom Turner, is the Commercial Head at family-owned firm Stronghold Global. Since the onset of the pandemic, the company has sold 20 million units of PPE to three hospital trusts: North Bristol, Sheffield Teaching Hospital Foundation, and University College London Hospital Foundation.
In March, Turner’s firm announced a partnering deal with facilities management giant Mitie to provide PPE to the Government’s Covid-19 test centres located throughout the country. The huge contract awarded to Mitie by the Department of Health and Social Care to service the testing centres is worth a staggering £365 million – with the option for this to increase in value.
Stronghold has also provided goods to the University of Bolton and HM Revenue and Customs, according to the company’s website.
Recent reports suggest Tom Turner’s father Benjamin Turner has also landed lucrative Government PPE deals. Benjamin is a director at Toffeln Ltd, a shoe-making firm that landed a £1.1m contract from the DHSC in April 2020 to supply visors. A deal awarded without competition.
The Department for Edcucation says that the Minister did declare her partner's employment but that it was "not deemed relevant for publication.” Why not? Surely transparency is needed in these situations.
