Monday, February 13, 2023
Another PPE scandal
Here we go again. The Guardian reports that new documents suggest a lifestyle company won a £25.8m government contract for PPE through the so-called VIP lane after the new Conservative chair, Greg Hands, was approached by a local Tory activist.
They says that Luxe Lifestyle, a company trading in “specialised design activities”, had no published accounts at the time the contract was awarded, and did not appear to have a history of supplying PPE:
It is understood Hands, then a trade minister, made a referral to officials in early April 2020 after a Conservative activist, Mark Higton, approached him about a contact offering PPE and other items.
Leaked documents, obtained by the Good Law Project, later listed a PPE contract as “Minister Hands/Luxe Lifestyle” and the point of contact as “Mark Higton”, a former chair of a neighbouring constituency association.
A subsequent freedom of information request revealed that 9m items worth £20m provided by Luxe Lifestyle were labelled “do not supply” by the government, meaning they were not used.
It is understood that an internal government audit of the workings of the VIP Lane, prepared for the Cabinet Office in September 2020, noted that Luxe Lifestyle’s contract was processed through the VIP channel and it had been referred by an MP.
A spokesperson for Luxe Lifestyle said: “Luxe Lifestyle’s contract to supply PPE was negotiated on an arm length basis through MoD procurement officers, seconded to the DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care]. The company was awarded a single contract for two out of six products offered via a competitive process based on price and availability.
“No minister was ever directly contacted by the company and all products offered were uploaded on to the relevant DSHC PPE procurement website established by the government at the time of the pandemic for review and assessment alongside other PPE providers. No one at the company has ever contacted or spoken to Greg Hands.”
It is understood the company considered all its PPE was in usable condition, had a two-year shelf life and that it was not informed by the Department of Health and Social Care of any problems with the consignments. Higton could not be reached for comment.
A report by the National Audit Office has found that companies referred to the VIP lane had a 10 times greater success rate for being awarded contracts than those without access to it.
They says that Luxe Lifestyle, a company trading in “specialised design activities”, had no published accounts at the time the contract was awarded, and did not appear to have a history of supplying PPE:
It is understood Hands, then a trade minister, made a referral to officials in early April 2020 after a Conservative activist, Mark Higton, approached him about a contact offering PPE and other items.
Leaked documents, obtained by the Good Law Project, later listed a PPE contract as “Minister Hands/Luxe Lifestyle” and the point of contact as “Mark Higton”, a former chair of a neighbouring constituency association.
A subsequent freedom of information request revealed that 9m items worth £20m provided by Luxe Lifestyle were labelled “do not supply” by the government, meaning they were not used.
It is understood that an internal government audit of the workings of the VIP Lane, prepared for the Cabinet Office in September 2020, noted that Luxe Lifestyle’s contract was processed through the VIP channel and it had been referred by an MP.
A spokesperson for Luxe Lifestyle said: “Luxe Lifestyle’s contract to supply PPE was negotiated on an arm length basis through MoD procurement officers, seconded to the DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care]. The company was awarded a single contract for two out of six products offered via a competitive process based on price and availability.
“No minister was ever directly contacted by the company and all products offered were uploaded on to the relevant DSHC PPE procurement website established by the government at the time of the pandemic for review and assessment alongside other PPE providers. No one at the company has ever contacted or spoken to Greg Hands.”
It is understood the company considered all its PPE was in usable condition, had a two-year shelf life and that it was not informed by the Department of Health and Social Care of any problems with the consignments. Higton could not be reached for comment.
A report by the National Audit Office has found that companies referred to the VIP lane had a 10 times greater success rate for being awarded contracts than those without access to it.
The paper adds that the operation of a VIP lane for suppliers of personal protective equipment after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic was ruled unlawful by the high court after a legal challenge to the scheme by the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor.
