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    Cost of tracking and tracing - ex Open Democracy Archived Message

    Posted by Mary on August 15, 2020, 12:22 pm

    'If you buy something and it’s not delivered, you wouldn’t buy it again. Right?

    Not, it seems, if you’re the UK government and one of your mates or top donors is selling it.

    We’ve just uncovered how two giant firms – Serco and Sitel – have landed lucrative deals to continue running NHS Track and Trace, despite major failures.

    Serco and Sitel are reaching less than half of the people they’re supposed to be contacting. They’re charging £900 per person traced. Experts have branded it a ‘disaster’.

    Yet now they’re getting up to £520 million to carry on – while councils mopping up their failures get no extra cash. Why?

    This is just the latest example of COVID cronyism from Boris Johnson’s government.

    The Minister for Health is a former Serco lobbyist, and Serco’s CEO is the brother of a former Tory MP.

    But it doesn’t end there. Our journalism has exposed a massive COVID-19 bonanza for Tory donors and allies including:

    Lucrative PR contracts for friends of Dominic Cummings.
    Dodgy NHS data deals for a firm with ties to Johnson’s Vote Leave campaign.
    Housing Minister Robert Jenrick’s ‘cash for favours’ controversy
    An Egyptian billionaire landing a £1.5m export deal, days after making a major donation to the Tories
    How property developers donated over £11m to the Tories in less than a year – and now are set to net millions from massive government changes to planning laws
    The UK has the highest number of excess deaths and the most damaged economy in Europe. Yet Johnson’s friends and political donors are continuing to profit during the pandemic.

    It’s the biggest scandal of our time. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.'

    ---

    PS Hancock is the Health Minister and Serco's CEO is Rupert Soames, brother of Nicholas Soames.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Soames

    Open Democracy who ask for donations say:
    It’s painstaking and often difficult work. We’ve been blacklisted from Downing Street press briefings; faced legal threats and much more. But we get results.

    Our stories travel across the media: forcing ministers to answer awkward questions on the TV, radio and in parliament.

    When we threatened to sue the government over their dodgy COVID data deals, they caved – allowing us to expose how the public has been misled. (More soon: watch this space).

    For those who profit from backroom deals, cronyism and dodgy contracts there’s nothing worse than trustworthy, independent journalism.

    We don’t have big corporate sponsors; we don’t have advertising or a paywall. That’s why rely on readers like you. Whatever you can donate really does make a difference.
    https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/

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