Covid-19: Contracts and Mass Testing Programme

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, please.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

Would noble Lords please not interrupt the Minister.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

We have published 80% of the contracts to date and are working on publishing the rest. I hope that that will meet noble Lords’ expectations.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I do not want to give the impression that absolutely everything is perfect. Those were desperate days and we had to do extraordinary things to protect our healthcare staff. I remind noble Lords that other countries were flying in their representatives with bags of cash on private jets in order to seal contracts and some of our supplies were literally taken from under our noses on the runway at Hong Kong airport. They were extremely difficult times and I do not pretend for a moment that everything was absolutely perfect, but I reassure noble Lords that the right procedures were put in place by officials, and I reassure the noble Lord that these figures are currently being validated with the National Audit Office.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed and it brings Question Time to an end.