On Tuesday, the same day that the National Audit Office finds that the Government lacked detailed contingency plans for a pandemic, the High Court started hearing a case against Matt Hancock.
It is the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor that have challenged the Health Secretary over the Government’s unlawful procurement of PPE contracts. The previous weekend EveryDoctor projected the question “What’s the plan, Matt?” in giant illuminated script on buildings across London, the Department of Health among others.
There are many explosive revelations expected during this week’s hearing. Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, lists a few facts which were revealed during the first two days:
- Government paid tens of millions of pounds to PestFix and Ayanda Capital for face masks which did not meet NHS standards.
- Government prioritised companies because of who they knew and not what they could deliver.
- The banks were so concerned about Government’s lack of due diligence on companies who had been handed huge contracts that they halted payments.
“The British public will want to know why companies that had little or no history of manufacturing or procurement won massive contracts, and why many of these companies were seemingly fast-tracked in so-called VIP lanes to the top of the bidding pile,” says Dr Julia Patterson, CEO of EveryDoctor.
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