Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what type of contract he has used to engage consultants to work on the Government's Test and Trace programme; and what tendering process he used to let those contracts.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Call off contracts from the Crown Commercial Framework (CCF) which contain a preselected list of suppliers with standard terms and conditions have been used in the majority of awards. Payment rates are as per the CCF rate card with discounts attained depending on value and length of role.
As part of our strategic workforce planning activities the number of consultants engaged is constantly under review and subject to change. Much of the focus of existing consultancy on the programme is to support the ‘build’ of the organisation. This support is only required on a temporary basis and most often used to provide skills that have not been identified within the Civil Service. For example, consultancies are used to provide support on app development.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional consultants he plans to engage to work on the Government's Test and Trace programme; and from which firms he plans to engage those consultants.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
As part of our strategic workforce planning activities the number of consultants engaged is constantly under review and subject to change.
Much of the focus of existing consultancy on the programme is to support the ‘build’ of the organisation. This support is only required on a temporary basis, and most often used to provide skills that have not been identified within the Civil Service. For example, consultancies are used to provide support on app development.
Call off contracts from the Crown Commercial Framework which contain a preselected list of suppliers with standard terms and conditions have been used in the majority of awards.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the oral question of the hon Member for Hammersmith to the Leader of the House on 5 November 2020, Official Report, col 495, when he plans to answer Questions 95023, 95024, and 95025, tabled on 24 September 2020, and Question 97479, tabled on 30 September 2020, and Questions 103452, 103453, 103454, 103455 and 103456 tabled on 14 October 2020 by the hon. Member for Hammersmith.
Answered by Edward Argar
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.
I refer the hon. Member to the answers to Questions 95024, 95025, 103452.
The hon. Member’s remaining questions will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultants have been deployed by Boston Consulting Group at the new Joint Biosecurity Centre; and what the average day rate is for each consultant.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Joint Biosecurity Centre does not currently employ any consultants from Boston Consulting Group.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Questions 95023, 95024, 95025 and 95029, tabled on 24 September 2020, and Question 97479, tabled on 30 September 2020 by the hon. Member for Hammersmith.
Answered by Edward Argar
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 the 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.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Questions 95025 and 95029 of 10 November.
The hon. Member’s remaining questions will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will set out the competitive process used to award contracts at the Joint Biosecurity Centre; and if he will confirm how many companies put in bids for these contracts.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The United Kingdom is facing the biggest public health challenge in a generation. The Joint Biosecurity Centre has been set up at pace to ensure decision makers at local and national levels have access to the best available information. This involved awarding contracts for a range of goods and services. Contracts were awarded in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to recruit additional consultants to work in the Joint Biosecurity Centre.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Joint Biosecurity Centre is likely to have an ongoing requirement for consultancy support, for example to fill very specialised epidemiology, data science and data engineering roles.