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Home Office Fails to Explain Strange Expenses
£900 at a pub in Oxford; £5,400 in Primark. Sam Bright questioned Priti Patel’s department about some peculiar purchases, but received an unconvincing answer
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‘Influence Without Power’: How Management Consultants had a Very Profitable Pandemic
As news emerges that the Test and Trace programme budgeted for £438 million to be spent on management consultants, Matthew Gwyther delves into the inner workings of the industry
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Conservative Lord’s £100 Million Link to Private Government Contractor
The Tory peer and senior Cabinet Office official appears to have benefitted financially from a firm that has won millions in public sector contracts
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Conservative Donor’s Firm Surpasses £200 Million in COVID-19 Contracts
The company has won two more contracts worth £46.1 million, Sam Bright reports
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New £14.4 Million Government Contract Awarded to Firm Owned by Conservative Donor
The company owner has donated more than £2.5 million to the Tory Party in recent years
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Several Years’ Worth of Expensive PPE Purchased by Government, New Stats Show
Paying inflated rates to companies without competition, Matt Hancock bought a vast excess of equipment, official records reveal
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Owner of Firm Awarded £275 Million in COVID Contracts Makes Donation to Conservatives
The owner of a medical company that won huge PPE contacts has donated to Boris Johnson’s party
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New £19 Million COVID Contract Awarded to Conservative Donor
Firms which have donated money to the governing party have now been awarded COVID-19 deals worth £900 million, though the latest firm denies any political interference
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Hancock’s PPE Legacy: ‘Mad Scramble’ Left Supplies Stranded at Ports and Air Sites
Sam Bright and Katie Tarrant unmask the Health and Social Care Secretary’s baseless claims about PPE procurement
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The Crony Ratio: £800 Million in COVID Contracts to Donors who have Given £8 Million to Conservatives
Byline Times and The Citizens add up the staggering total value of deals awarded during the Coronavirus pandemic to donors of the Conservative Party
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The COVID-19 Crisis Must Spur a Revolution in Public Mental Health Services
The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed an urgent need to reform long-neglected areas of healthcare, argues Byline Times’ chief medical officer John Ashton
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I Know from First-Hand Experience Why Outsourcing Public Services Doesn’t Work
Louisa Britain, the pen name of the mother who tweets as ‘Roadside Mum’, explains how the Government should reform its provision of free school meals
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‘A Car Crash Waiting To Happen’: Staff Worried Schools Not Ready for Mass COVID Testing
Staffing costs, pressure on resources and inaccurate tests are all prompting worry about mass testing when schools reopen in March, reports Sian Norris
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Firm Owned by a Tory Donor Who Is Dido Harding’s Colleague Wins £5.9 Million in Government COVID-19 Deals
The owner of a private equity company has donated £10,000 to Matt Hancock, and sits of the board of NHS Improvement. One of his firms has won Government Coronavirus contracts worth millions
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£2.5 Million Government Contracts for Firm that Donated Over £240,000 to Conservative Party
Another company with links to the ruling party has been awarded multi-million-pound deals during the Coronavirus pandemic
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Government Reveals Total Expected Cost of Nightingale Hospitals
As of Monday, just 12 patients were being treated at London’s 4,000-capacity Nightingale facility, while the taxpayer continues to fork-out for these improvised hospitals
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‘No Profiteering’ But Government Paying £1,000 a Day for Test and Trace Consultants
One private consultancy firm is being paid £900,000 a-day to work on Baroness Dido Harding’s operation, an official has revealed
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Will an Unholy Alliance of Anti-Vaxxers and Government Incompetence Grab Defeat from the Jaws of Victory?
Byline Times’ Chief Medical Officer, Dr John Ashton, considers the continuing challenges ahead in the Coronavirus pandemic – despite the development of a vaccine
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New £2 Million School Laptop Deal Awarded to Firm That Gave £105,000 to Tory Party
Sam Bright reports on the latest Government contract awarded to a firm that has funded the Conservative Party
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Former ‘Test and Trace’ Boss Given Green Light to Lobby Government After Just Four Months in New Corporate Role
A senior member of Baroness Dido Harding’s team has joined a company previously awarded £140 million in COVID-19 contracts – and will be able to begin lobbying her former colleagues sooner than the rules usually allow
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Government Reveals Total Number of Private Sector Consultants Working for ‘Test and Trace’
There are more private sector consultants working for Baroness Dido Harding’s operation than civil servants working for the Treasury, reveals Sam Bright
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Pleas to Open London’s Nightingale Hospital Fall on Deaf Ears as Hotels and Council Offices are Suggested for Non-COVID Patients
Steve Shaw reports on local councillors’ fears that services will soon be overwhelmed in Britain’s Coronavirus hotspot if the Government refuses to take urgent action
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2020 SPOTLIGHT: The Great Procurement Scandal
Sam Bright investigates the trends that underpin the Government’s outpouring of contracts to corporate giants and friends of the regime
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The 12 Contracts of Christmas
Byline Times and The Citizens catalogue the 12 most notorious contracts awarded to private sector firms during the Coronavirus pandemic so far
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The Hospital Bed Crisis Preceded COVID-19 – And Will Outlive It
Acute NHS hospital consultant David Oliver considers how the Coronavirus pandemic has exposed structural healthcare problems caused by years of neglect and underfunding
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Journal of the Plague Year: And What to Expect in 2021
Byline Times’ chief medical officer, Professor John Ashton, looks back on the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and warns that –without radical change – next year will be even bleaker
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UK ‘Mega Lab’ Cut Working Hours Last Week Amid ‘Shortages’
Byline Times understands that one of the UK’s largest ‘Lighthouse’ labs was forced to scale down its operation last week, despite surging demand
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‘Test and Trace’ Replacing Corporate Giants With £800-a-day In-House Consultants
Sam Bright has the inside track on a new Government hiring blitz and its attempts to oust expensive, controversial consultancy giants
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Serco and G4S May Be Excluded from Government Contracts Under New Proposals
Sam Bright digs into the Cabinet Office’s new manifesto to fix the UK’s private sector procurement system
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Pregnant and on the COVID Frontline
Frontline NHS doctor Meenal Viz reflects on a momentous year – in which she gave birth to her first child and took on the Government over its lack of protection for healthcare workers during the Coronavirus pandemic
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Government Set For £16.2 Billion Private Sector ‘Test and Trace’ Splurge Despite Repeated Failures
The spending watchdog documents the failures of the corporate-led ‘Test and Trace’ system, yet says we should brace for more private sector involvement in the Coronavirus response
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Firm with Links to Matt Hancock’s Family Awarded £5.5 Million COVID Testing Deal
The chairman of the healthcare firm is the former business partner of Matt Hancock’s mum and step-father
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‘I Contacted Cabinet Office and Offered to Buy a Machine in China’ says Marine Firm Owner Given £5 Million Contract for Masks
Sam Bright speaks to the owner of a naval design firm about how he acquired a contract to supply face masks – who also appears to reject the consensus of scientists and officials on the Coronavirus pandemic
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Government Outsources Responsibility for Outsourcing
The professional services giant Deloitte is being employed to help the Government to interpret and implement its own ‘Outsourcing Playbook’
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Boris Johnson’s Excuse for Bad Government
Under the cover of seemingly generous economic policies, the Government has eroded the rights of vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Sam Bright
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Rewarding Failure: NHS Whistleblowers Let Down by Trusts Selected for Accolades
Stephen Colegrave investigates the shortlist for a prestigious healthcare whistleblowing award and finds serious shortcomings in those picked for the prize
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Completed COVID Care Home Tests Flown 300 Miles for Results
‘Test and trace’ chaos forced the Government to fly care home swabs from Bournemouth to Belfast, new documents reveal
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COVID-19 Testing Contracts Awarded to Firm Accused of Selling Equipment Used for ‘Genetic Surveillance’ in Xinjiang
Amid concerns over Government due diligence, John Lubbock and Iain Overton explore a series of COVID-19 contracts awarded to a firm accused of assisting the repression of Uyghur Muslims
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Frontline Workers Failed By Wasteful, Inefficient £15 Billion PPE Procurement Effort
The majority of protective equipment bought by the Government still hasn’t arrived, the National Audit Office has revealed
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Hidden Trauma: Accident and Emergency Nurse Reveals Abuse of Disabled by Family Carers
Stephen Colegrave speaks to an Accident and Emergency nurse who has witnessed the unreported abuse of vulnerable people
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Dominic Cummings’ Role in The Great Procurement Scandal Shows He is Not a Mastermind
Dominic Cummings failed to reform the procurement process, and in doing so exposed his hollow intellectual posturing, argues Sam Bright
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Serco Lands Place on £7.5 Billion Government Contract to Provide ‘Employment Services’
After facing criticism for its work during the pandemic, the outsourcing giant is set to be paid millions of pounds more to assist the post-Coronavirus clean-up operation, reports Sam Bright
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Britain’s Cyber Security Operations Undermined by Swanky Spies
David Hencke reports on parliamentary criticism of GCHQ’s decision to use a large portion of its new budget on swish new London offices
