Government spends £624m on consultancy contracts during pandemic
The government has awarded contracts worth at least £624m to private firms for consulting, marketing and research purposes during the pandemic, despite criticism it has been too reliant on private firms during the crisis.
In total some £30.2bn in contracts have now been awarded by the UK government in response to Covid-19, the latest figures from Tussell, a research company, show.
The government’s Test and Trace programme, which has been widely criticised for almost the whole time it has been in use, was responsible for £14.3bn worth of contracts, followed by PPE procurement, which cost just shy of £10bn.
Big Four firm Deloitte was paid just under £280m across 30 contracts – although the Good Law Project puts the figure at £323m – making it the highest earner of the UK’s major consultancy firms.
Rival PwC won the most contracts of any private firm working with the government, at 35 contracts worth £30m.
KPMG and EY meanwhile were awarded coronavirus contracts worth £21.6m and £13.8m respectively, according to Tussell.
There has been widespread criticism of the government’s reliance on private firms during the Covid crisis, with grumblings centring on high fees and perceived poor work.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said it had been necessary to draw on extra resources from the private sector to tackle Covid-19.
“Ministers are concerned however that the government is too reliant on consultants and have written to departments to make clear that services should only be procured when external expertise is essential and represents value for money,” they added.
Part of Deloitte’s contracts included help with PR and communications, according to the Good Law Project.
Requirements to “draft and respond to parliamentary questions, Freedom of Information requests, media queries and other reactive requests” and to “support lines to take and Q&A’s in anticipation of queries,” were asked of Deloitte, many of which are jobs usually left to civil servants or government officials.
The government has also been accused of handing out contracts to close contacts of government ministers, and failing to advertise huge tenders.
A Deloitte spokesperson said: “We are providing specialist teams and expertise to help the government build the largest diagnostics network in UK history, at the scale needed to support and advance this critically important programme.
“Our people have contributed their expertise in digital technology, procurement, supply chain, logistics, real estate and project management, with the UK now capable of processing over 750,000 tests per day. We are incredibly proud to be part of an immense team effort involving more than forty public and private sector organisations, and tens of thousands of people.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.