Covid: Labour calls for probe into claims of VIP lane for testing contracts

Labour is calling for an investigation into whether a fast-track system was used for suppliers pitching for contracts in the government's coronavirus testing scheme.

The party said the public needed to know if suppliers had connections to ministers or the Conservative Party.

Campaign group Good Law Project has published papers which they said revealed a "VIP lane" for suppliers.

But the health department said the claims were "completely false".

The government spokesperson said all offers of testing went through the "same robust assurance checks" and that there was "no high priority lane for testing suppliers" and "no separate fast track process".

A government source has said the "fast track" referred to in the quoted emails was "a way of marking where offers had come from".

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In their publication, the Good Law Project quoted an email from an unnamed individual who advertises on their LinkedIn profile as "Strategy and Stakeholder Engagement Lead, leading on VIP stakeholder engagement with Life Science Minister Lord James Bethell".

It called for direct offers of testing kits to be sent to a separate health department dedicated email address where they would be "triaged".

The campaign group also claimed the email went on to say that if offers originate from a minister or a private office, then they must be further labelled as "fasttrack" at the beginning of the subject line.

In addition, the Good Law Project published what it said was an email sent from a private gmail address of someone called Simon Greaves who signs off as "Strategy and Stakeholder Engagement Lead".

Two additional government email addresses are copied in to the email.

A government source said in times of emergency, new members of staff can be given temporary permission to use their own email for a very short period of time, for non-sensitive business, before getting their departmental IT address.

Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner said: "We need a full and independent investigation into any VIP lane for testing contracts and the publication of all correspondence and contracts, showing who got them and how, and any connections they had to ministers or the Conservative Party.

"This is yet more evidence of the endemic use of private emails across government, to agree contracts and hand out taxpayers' money while avoiding scrutiny and accountability."

The government has faced criticism for the way contracts to supply PPE were awarded

The process by which the government buys something from a company involves various rules and requirements - for example checking the company offers best value for money.

However, in times of emergency, the government can be allowed to skip this process.

In a report published last year, the spending watchdog the NAO found that over half of the £18bn spent on pandemic-related contracts were awarded without a competitive tender.

It said companies providing personal protective equipment (PPE) were given priority if they were recommended by MPs, peers and ministers' offices.

The NAO said not enough had been done to address potential conflicts of interest by ministers and other government officials.