{"id":125536,"date":"2021-05-18T18:18:29","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T18:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=125536"},"modified":"2021-05-18T18:18:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T18:18:29","slug":"judge-rules-figure-spent-on-useless-ppe-can-stay-confidential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/judge-rules-figure-spent-on-useless-ppe-can-stay-confidential\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge rules figure spent on useless PPE can stay confidential"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>High Court judge rules government can keep the amount of public money spent on useless PPE confidential as campaigners bring legal challenge over \u00a3700m contracts<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Good Law Project and EveryDoctor are bringing legal action against the DHSC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>They claim contracts awarded to companies in first wave were given unlawfully\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>They say use of a &#8216;VIP lane&#8217; gave unfair, unlawful advantage to some companies<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The breakdown of the spending on each type of PPE or the amount paid in pre-payments by the Government to the companies has been kept confidential<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mrs Justice O&#8217;Farrell found the specific pricing details were not relevant to what the court has to decide and did not need to be disclosed to the public<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Government can keep the amount of public money spent on unusable personal protective equipment confidential, the High Court has ruled as campaigners bring a legal challenge over \u00a3700million worth of contracts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor are bringing legal action against the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), claiming that contracts awarded to PestFix, Clandeboye and Ayanda Capital were given unlawfully.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The two groups allege the DHSC failed to provide proper reasons for why PestFix got the contracts\u00a0at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April and May 2020.<\/p>\n<p>A large part of the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor&#8217;s claim is that the use of a &#8216;VIP lane&#8217; gave an unfair, unlawful advantage to some companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The groups say a &#8216;substantial proportion&#8217; of the PPE procured under six contracts awarded to PestFix, two to Clandeboye and one contract to Ayanda, which were worth more than \u00a3700 million, were unfit for purpose.<\/p>\n<p>The breakdown of the spending on each type of PPE or the amount paid in pre-payments by the Government to the companies has been kept confidential.<\/p>\n<p>The DHSC argued they are commercially sensitive and Mrs Justice O&#8217;Farrell found the specific pricing details were not relevant to what the court has to decide and did not need to be disclosed to the public.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2021\/05\/11\/13\/42812736-9566109-Mr_Justice_Nicklin_had_ruled_at_an_earlier_hearing_that_Ms_Murra-a-7_1620737440171.jpg\" height=\"421\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Government can keep the amount of public money spent on unusable personal protective equipment confidential, the High Court has ruled\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She said: &#8216;The case concerns the decision-making process carried out by the defendant &#8230; the precise level of the pricing or pre-payments or total amounts spent on PPE that might not have been used or fit for purpose are not relevant to the issues before the court.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It is not part of this court&#8217;s role to consider whether the contracts provided value for money or whether any public money has been wasted.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>She added: &#8216;It is not necessary in my judgment for further details of the pricing of the contracts to be made public in these proceedings.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>At the start of the trial on Tuesday Jason Coppel QC, representing the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor, had argued the amount of public money spent on unusable PPE provided by PestFix and Ayanda should be disclosed to the public.<\/p>\n<p>In written arguments, Mr Coppel described the purchase of unusable PPE from the two companies as a &#8216;catastrophic waste of public funds&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Coppel said approximately \u00a3595 million was spent with PestFix and Ayanda, but it is not publicly known how much was spent on PPE which did not meet technical standards.<\/p>\n<p>He continued: &#8216;The defendant&#8217;s unlawful failure to carry out technical assurance on the products to be supplied by Pestfix and Ayanda led directly to the purchase of vast quantities of PPE which was unusable by the NHS, and so to a catastrophic waste of public funds.&#8217;\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The groups claim the Government violated principles of equal treatment and transparency when awarding the multimillion-pound deals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They also allege the\u00a0<span>DHSC failed to provide evidence it conducted any negotiations which applied equally between prospective suppliers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2021\/05\/18\/19\/43145927-9592539-image-a-5_1621361177297.jpg\" height=\"366\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>The DHSC argued they are commercially sensitive and Mrs Justice O&#8217;Farrell (pictured) found the specific pricing details were not relevant to what the court has to decide and did not need to be disclosed to the public<\/p>\n<p>Mr Coppel said the VIP lane was set up in late March 2020, reserved for referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials.<\/p>\n<p>The court heard that PestFix had supplied PPE for individuals in pest control but had no experience in providing PPE for healthcare workers, and had net assets of around \u00a318,000.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Coppel said PestFix was referred into the VIP lane because an ex-director of the company was an &#8216;old school friend&#8217; of the father in law of Steve Oldfield, the chief commercial officer at DHSC.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote: &#8216;The contracts secured by PestFix and Ayanda were directly attributable to their VIP status; many other suppliers who had made credible offers of PPE but who were not fortunate enough to have connections in Government did not have their officers progressed.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The barrister said there was limited knowledge about the VIP lane which excluded many expert organisations.<\/p>\n<p>He continued: &#8216;National medical associations with expert knowledge, including the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing, were not told about the VIP lane and were therefore prevented from referring known PPE suppliers into it.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor argue that a VIP supplier was &#8216;more than 10 times as likely&#8217; to get a contract compared to a non-VIP supplier.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Coppel added: &#8216;The reality is clear: being a VIP supplier meant (a) getting a &#8216;foot in the door&#8217;, by your offer getting initial consideration by an official and then (b) being guided through the award process up to contract signature.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;VIP suppliers&#8217; offers were progressed through that process in a way that non-VIP suppliers&#8217; were not.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>DHSC is contesting the claim, and has told the court that it &#8216;wholeheartedly rejects&#8217; the case against it.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Bowsher QC, for the DHSC, said in written submissions: &#8216;At a time of national lockdown and rising rates of infection and death, it was the duty of the defendant to secure, without delay, unprecedented volumes of personal protective equipment and medical devices in order to slow the spread of the virus and save lives.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He said the Government &#8216;put together an unprecedented programme, on a huge scale, at commendable speed, during a serious crisis&#8217;, when the market for PPE had been &#8216;fundamentally reshaped&#8217; by the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>The case, which is being heard remotely by Mrs Justice O&#8217;Farrell, is expected to end on Tuesday next week.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-9592539\/Judge-rules-government-public-money-spent-useless-PPE-confidential.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High Court judge rules government can keep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":125535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23056],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Judge rules figure spent on useless PPE can stay confidential - Pre Coin News<\/title>\n<meta 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