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Government outsourcing of COVID-19 response is “national scandal” says select committee member

Labour’s Dawn Butler says pandemic being used as a “cover” to avoid accountability, comments come in wake of latest openDemocracy COVID contracting revelation.

By Adam Bychawski
Government outsourcing of COVID-19 response is “national scandal” says select committee member
A drive-through COVID testing site in Greater London run by Serco, one of the companies awarded contracts to help run the NHS's Test and Trace programme. | PA Images
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The government has been accused of presiding over “a national scandal” by awarding multi-million COVID contracts to companies with minimal oversight and accountability. 

Labour MP Dawn Butler told openDemocracy that many of the firms that had received lucrative government contracts had failed to deliver. 

“There is public money being given to companies that are not delivering a good service. I think the pandemic is being used as a cover,” said the member of the House of Commons science and technology select committee. 

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0