Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total value of contracts awarded to Serco in 2020 was to help the Government’s response to covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department has two contracts with Serco in response to COVID-19. The first is for the provision of facilities management services to support the operation of testing sites around the United Kingdom. The contract was let in March 2020 for an initial term of six months to September for the sum of £57 million. This has now been extended to 30 April 2021 with an allocated budget of £208 million for an expanded service.
The second contract is for call handling services to support the test and trace initiative. The total contract has a maximum value of £410 million to cover the initial period and any and all extension periods undertaken up to a period of 12 months. The contract has recently been extended for its full term to the end of May 2021.
Officials working on the Test and Trace programme from several Government departments negotiated these contracts.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the attendees at negotiations for the contracts awarded to Serco to help deliver the Government’s covid-19 response.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department has two contracts with Serco in response to COVID-19. The first is for the provision of facilities management services to support the operation of testing sites around the United Kingdom. The contract was let in March 2020 for an initial term of six months to September for the sum of £57 million. This has now been extended to 30 April 2021 with an allocated budget of £208 million for an expanded service.
The second contract is for call handling services to support the test and trace initiative. The total contract has a maximum value of £410 million to cover the initial period and any and all extension periods undertaken up to a period of 12 months. The contract has recently been extended for its full term to the end of May 2021.
Officials working on the Test and Trace programme from several Government departments negotiated these contracts.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what contractual penalties are in place to ensure that clinical contact tracers working for Intelling follow NHS guidance on personal data safety.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
NHS Test and Trace’s primary suppliers and their sub-contractors providing contact tracing services are legally obliged to adhere to the standard data handling conditions of all preferred Government suppliers, alongside terms specified by the Department. Contracts awarded by the Department include break clauses and clauses on managing product and service quality and delivery. These provisions allow us to review contracts and/or reclaim money where a company is deemed to have supplied faulty products, services or failed to deliver key outputs. Activity which could prompt the use of such mechanisms includes failure to meet legal obligations on data handling.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 3.8 of the Budget 2021, how much of the £15 billion announced for NHS Test and Trace will be outsourced to private companies.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Spending plans for the £15 billion for 2021-22 is currently undergoing detailed financial planning exercise and will be finalised in due course.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total value of contracts awarded to Randox in 2020 was to help the Government’s response to covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The total value of contracts awarded to Randox in 2020 was £479.5 million.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which companies are involved in each element of the mandatory border quarantine scheme.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We have contracted with (Corporate Travel Management) to provide hotels and transport. The security providers are G4S, Mitie and Corps Security.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of companies that have applied to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) via the PPE procurement tender portal since 1 March 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Over 15,000 suppliers approached the National Sourcing team via the online portals. We do not intend to publish a list of these suppliers as the Department has to consider their position in terms of the recognition that disclosure of their names may damage the supplier’s reputation, affecting their competitive position, their revenue and ability to obtain future contracts. The Department takes its transparency requirements very seriously and has now published the majority of the Contract Award Notices and contracts for the successful suppliers which were awarded contracts.
Experienced external consultants were involved in supporting the cross-Government team’s procurement of personal protective equipment, working under the management and supervision of officials.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether applications to the Government's personal protective equipment procurement portal established in March 2020 were managed by (a) Government officials or (b) external consultants.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Over 15,000 suppliers approached the National Sourcing team via the online portals. We do not intend to publish a list of these suppliers as the Department has to consider their position in terms of the recognition that disclosure of their names may damage the supplier’s reputation, affecting their competitive position, their revenue and ability to obtain future contracts. The Department takes its transparency requirements very seriously and has now published the majority of the Contract Award Notices and contracts for the successful suppliers which were awarded contracts.
Experienced external consultants were involved in supporting the cross-Government team’s procurement of personal protective equipment, working under the management and supervision of officials.