Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to response to the Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons on 17 November 2021, for specified minutes, notes, and correspondence relating to Government contracts awarded to Randox Laboratories Ltd, HC1072, for what reason there is no entry in the register of ministerial meetings of (a) the Microsoft Teams meeting between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation and Randox on 7 August 2020 to discuss a letter sent by the CEO of Randox to the Secretary of State on 6 August 2020, (b) the calls between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation, Randox and Owen Paterson of 14 May 2020 and (c) the telephone call between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation and the CEO of Randox over the weekend of 5-6 April 2020; and whether his Department holds minutes of those meetings.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to publishing details of ministerial meetings with external organisations and aims to ensure that all meetings which meet the relevant criteria are included in the register. Where there are omissions, this is due to administrative error.
The Department does not hold a record of the meetings of 14 May 2020 and of 5 to 6 April 2020. The Department has identified a note of meeting on 7 August 2020, which was located following the Humble Address and the National Audit Office’s investigation into the Department’s contracts with Randox Laboratories Ltd. A copy of the note is attached, which has been redacted to remove personal information.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons dated 17 November 2021 for specified minutes, notes, and correspondence relating to Government contracts awarded to Randox Laboratories Ltd, HC1072, laid before the House on 3 February 2022, Ref 2, page 6, for what reason the entry in the register of ministerial meetings relating to the Testing Taskforce meeting 8 April 2020 does not list Randox or Peter Fitzgerald as attending; and whether his Department holds a minute of that meeting.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Departmental records confirm that a meeting of the COVD-19 Testing Taskforce took place on 8 April 2020 with Randox and Peter Fitzgerald by telephone. The Department holds a record of this call.
The Government is committed to publishing details of ministers’ meetings with external organisations. The transparency register will be updated.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to response to the Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons on 17 November 2021, for specified minutes, notes, and correspondence relating to Government contracts awarded to Randox Laboratories Ltd, HC1072, for what reason there is no entry in the register of ministerial meetings of (a) the Microsoft Teams meeting between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation and Randox on August 7 2020 to discuss a letter sent by the CEO of Randox to the Secretary of State on August 6 2020 (b) the calls between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation, Randox and Owen Paterson of 14 May 2020 and (c) the telephone call between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation and the CEO of Randox over the weekend of 5-6 April 2020; and whether his Department holds minutes of these meetings.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Question 72393 and with reference to the phone call between the then health minister, Lord Bethell, and the former Rt. Hon Member for North Shropshire and Randox on 9 April 2020, whether his Department holds any documents relating to (a) the discussions at that meeting and (b) progress on the action points for the Secretary of State and No.10 listed in the redacted copy of the Ministerial briefing note provided in advance of the discussion; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner MP) on 1 February 2022 to Question 81967. The Department does not hold information on progress against the action points.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2022 to Question 145886, on Randox Laboratories: Contracts, on how many contracts for supply of personal protective equipment his Department has carried out international price benchmarking since October 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Since October 2020, all new purchases of personal protection equipment have been made under NHS Supply Chain framework contracts, which are let and managed by the Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL), rather than directly by the Department. Purchases have been made for gloves, FFP3 masks and aprons. Competitive pricing is a key part of any tender evaluation that SCCL undertake prior to the award of framework contracts, which are compliant with Public Contract Regulations.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons dated 17 November 2021 for specified minutes, notes, and correspondence relating to Government contracts awarded to Randox Laboratories Ltd, HC1072, laid before the House on 3 February 2022, Ref 24, page 46, whether his Department holds any other records relating to the attempted removal of extraction systems by Randox Laboratories Limited from Queen’s and Ulster Universities and the AFBI Lab; and what steps he took in response.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department does not hold further records relating to this matter. There is no record of any further steps taken by the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (the Rt. hon. Matt Hancock MP).
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department carried out international price benchmarking on the contract awarded to Randox Laboratories Ltd in October 2020.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department did not carry out international price benchmarking. However, appropriate specialist scientific advice was sought and benchmarked against other provision in the United Kingdom to ensure value for money, resulting in a significantly reduced unit cost.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the request from the Cabinet Office of 25 September 2020, contained on pages 38-39 of the Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons relating to Government contracts awarded to Randox Laboratories Ltd, 17 November 2021, HC1072, that his Department initiate a competitive process in time for new contracts to be let from March 2021, whether a competitive tendering process for covid-19 procurement had been initiated by that date.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department awarded a call-off agreement to Randox Laboratories which commenced on 1 April 2021, procured under the National Microbiology Framework. The call-off agreement met the criteria for a direct award procedure due to the operational requirement for a provider to be based in Northern Ireland and meet the key performance indicators required.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish all (a) records, (b) documents and (c) minutes his Department holds in respect of the phone call held on 9 April 2020 between the then health minister, Lord Bethell, and the former Rt. Hon Member for North Shropshire and Randox to discuss covid-19 testing; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
A redacted copy of the Ministerial briefing note provided in advance of the discussion is attached.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 81967 on Randox Laboratories, which of his Department's officials were present on the call of 9 April 2020 between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary for Innovation and Randox Laboratory, broken down by civil service grade; whether any special adviser attended that call; and whether (a) an official or (b) a special adviser wrote the minute of that call, published by his Department.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Bethell) was supported by a private secretary at Higher Executive Officer grade who wrote the minute and by Dr Samantha Roberts, Director of Testing Supply at the National Testing Programme. Special advisers were not present.