They say that 17 companies which supplied £119m of PPE marked “do not supply” during the pandemic are still making vast profits supplying equipment to the NHS, landing work for the supply of goods worth some £83.6m since January 2024:
Analysis of official spend records shows that many of these have bagged long-term contracts as part of group awards, with some of them due to run until 2028. Some of these companies had little or no experience selling to the NHS before the pandemic, and some are owned by people who have made massive donations to the Tories.
Globus Shetland didn’t manage to land a single contract with the NHS in the five years before the pandemic, but picked up contracts for more than £108m between April and July 2020. Between 2016 and 2020, the company gave the Tories more than £375,500. Its CEO, Haraldur Agustsson has also been spotted at meetings of The Leaders Group – a Tory members club that connects business people with politicians for a £50,000 annual fee.
According to the health department, £2.74m worth of the PPE that Globus supplied was unfit for use in the NHS. But the firm has made £455,338 from further contracts so far this year, and is one of the companies listed in a £260m group contract that runs to September 2027.
As the pandemic struck, Bunzl was one of the companies that the health department had removed from their list of approved suppliers. After the former Tory chair Lord Feldman intervened to put them back on the list, Bunzl snatched a £22.6m PPE contract.
More than £3.3m worth of the equipment Bunzl supplied was deemed unusable by the NHS. But its trading division, 365 Healthcare, has made more than £4m from the NHS in 2024, and appears on group contracts that run until 2025.
Other firms, despite their ongoing contracts with the NHS, are now in administration in the UK, like US-based Gojo Industries, which is closing down operations in Europe. Gojo supplied PPE worth over £66,000 that was deemed unusable in a front-line setting.
According to the health department, firms that provided unusable equipment marked “do not supply” can still bag further deals.
“There could be a number of reasons that products are placed in this category which is not an automatic bar to future public-sector procurement,” the department explained.
They conclude that with £8.7bn spent on unfit PPE, there’s already plenty of work for the newly appointed covid corruption commissioner to get through during his one year contract on only three days a week, but he must also examine the ongoing scandal of firms whose failure during the pandemic has been rewarded with contracts that will see them raking in cash far into the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I am happy to address most contributions, even the drunken ones if they are coherent, but I am not going to engage with negative sniping from those who do not have the guts to add their names or a consistent on-line identity to their comments. Such postings will not be published.
Anonymous comments with a constructive contribution to make to the discussion, even if it is critical will continue to be posted. Libellous comments or remarks I think may be libellous will not be published.
I will also not tolerate personation so please do not add comments in the name of real people unless you are that person. If you do not like these rules then start your own blog.
Oh, and if you persist in repeating yourself despite the fact I have addressed your point I may get bored and reject your comment.
The views expressed in comments are those of the poster, not me.