A chink of light shines on dark corners! – Owl

action.goodlawproject.org

Good Law Project is now able to reveal the names of four more companies awarded contracts through the VIP lane: Clandeboye Agencies, P14 Medical, Luxe Lifestyle and Meller Designs.

• P14 Medical, run by a Tory councillor and donor, was awarded £276m in PPE contracts.
• Meller Designs, run by David Meller a large Tory donor and trustee of the rightwing lobby group Policy Exchange, was given more than £160m in PPE contracts. 
• Luxe Lifestyle was awarded a £26m contract despite appearing to be insolvent and without any employees. 
• And Clandeboye Agencies whose registered trade on Companies House is “wholesale of sugar, chocolate and sugar confectionery” was awarded £108m in PPE contracts (see page 73 and following). We should say that the Government says Clandeboye was not in the VIP lane – but its own internal documents tell a different story.

These four are in addition to Ayanda, which enjoyed a £252m deal negotiated by Liz Truss adviser Andrew Mills. And Pestfix which won approximately £350m in contracts despite being described by Government as a company “which specialises in pest control products, that was dormant in 2018” (see page 73). There remain a further 41 firms yet to be revealed.

Good Law Project can also reveal that of the nine contracts the subject of the judicial review – one with Ayanda, two with Clandeboye and six with Pestfix – five or possibly six of them have failed in the sense that some or all of the PPE provided under them has proved unfit for its intended purpose (see page 2). Hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds – spent with these three suppliers alone – have been wasted. It is inconceivable that this is the only waste. Moreover, the documents disclose that Pestfix and Matt Hancock are “in legal dispute” (see page 176).

In relation to Ayanda, civil servants were afraid of losing the contract with Ayanda because Andrew Mills “has close ties to DIT so wouldn’t be a good outcome” (see page 188), were concerned that Andrew Mills “is using previous relationships and making noise that we are not responsive” (page 190), and “Andrew comes through as highly backed as he sits on the board for DIT – so I don’t want things being escalated” (page 191). 

The High Court said the Government should carry out additional searches for:

1. texts and WhatsApp messages for some selected civil servants; and
2. instructions, directions and decisions by Ministers in respect of the establishment, selection and criteria of the VIP lane.

It also said that the Government should supply details of the advice given by Emily Lawson in relation to FFP2 facemasks.

With reference to our other applications, the Government either has now supplied or agreed to supply the information we sought, or our application for that information was rejected by the Court.

The Government was ordered to pay our costs of the application.

Thank you, 

Jo Maugham 

Director of Good Law Project

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Good Law Project is able to carry out its work thanks to donations from thousands of people. If you are in a position to do so, you can make a donation here:

The smokescreen of Boris Johnson’s ducking and diving around the “nothing to see here” sleaze and cronyism allegations is shown up, in this article, for being just that.

An official is reported as writing: “We are currently drowning in VIP requests and ‘High Priority’ contacts that despite all of our work and best efforts do not either hold the correct certification or do not pass due diligence” 

Conclusion: the sleaze and cronyism actually hindered the Government’s Covid response. It didn’t demonstrate the “fleet of foot”, “cutting through the red tape” response portrayed in much of the Conservative electioneering pamphlets. – Owl

George Grylls, www.thetimes.co.uk

Matt Hancock has been ordered by the High Court to hand over WhatsApp messages about the government’s procurement of PPE.

The health secretary will have to reveal details about a WhatsApp group that was used to fast-track applications from “VIP” suppliers.

The government is being taken to court by the Good Law Project, a campaign group, over its procurement of PPE at the height of the pandemic. At a hearing yesterday it emerged that a WhatsApp group was set up as an “informal way” for the government to communicate with the chief executives of 200 companies.

A government meeting agenda submitted to the court reads: “[Redacted] to connect with [Redacted] and confirm preferred way forward to sharing communications with CEOs and CPOs (Chief product officers).

“Note: There is a WhatsApp group with [circa] 200 CEO and this is informal way to communicate. There is also a separate channel to CPOs.”

Companies that had a recommendation from someone in government were ten times more likely to be awarded a contract to supply PPE, a report by the National Audit Office found last year.

Recent messages released during the Good Law Project’s judicial review have shown that civil servants were unable to secure PPE quickly last year because they were “drowning” in requests from VIP suppliers.

One official handling an offer to supply visors to the NHS in April last year wrote: “This contact has already been allocated a team member — unfortunately if he jumps to the front of the queue, it then has a knock-on effect to the remaining offers of help.

“We are currently drowning in VIP requests and ‘High Priority’ contacts that despite all of our work and best efforts do not either hold the correct certification or do not pass due diligence.”

Transparency International, a campaign group, has said that a fifth of PPE contracts, totalling £3.7 billion, raised a red flag for potential corruption.

At the hearing Jason Coppel QC, for the Good Law Project, argued for the disclosure of the messages, saying that Hancock had shown an “obvious lack of transparency”. Michael Bowsher QC, for Hancock, accused the campaign group of trying to fish for evidence.

Impressed? – Owl

Heart of the South West LEP releases plans to build back better – Heart of the south west LEP

20 APR heartofswlep.co.uk

Heart of the South West LEP has published its plan to help the area recover from the pandemic and ‘build back better’.

The LEP has developed Build Back Better in consultation with business and its 16 local authority, four university and 10 FE college partners. The plan identifies a number of transformational opportunities that will enable the area to recover from COVID-19 and deliver prosperity and resilience through clean and inclusive growth.

Karl Tucker, chair of Heart of the South West LEP, says: “Whilst the immediate focus over the past year has been on protection for those worst hit by the pandemic, it’s vital that we also look at the medium and longer term opportunities to revitalise and strengthen the Heart of the South West economy.

“Build Back Better sets out the key transformational opportunities in our area that will unlock investment, create more and better jobs, and deliver carbon-net zero in response to the climate change emergency declared by many of our partners. The plan is rooted in the ambitious vision of our Local Industrial Strategy, maintaining our commitment to increasing productivity through clean and inclusive growth.”

The LEP used a robust evidence base to identify Energy, High Value Engineering and Digital as key opportunities to drive growth across multiple sectors. Build Back Better focuses on accelerating those opportunities through the delivery of seven major programmes of activity. These are underpinned by a further four enabling programmes that provide the environment needed to support the plan – around skills, business support, innovation and infrastructure.

Some of the transformational programmes in the plan:

• Renewable and nuclear energy, stemming from the construction of the UK’s first nuclear power station in 20 years at Hinkley Point C, nuclear submarine decommissioning in Plymouth, and the development of the next generation of marine renewables. The plan aims to capitalise on the potential and be a green energy powerhouse and first net exporter of clean energy.
• Marine autonomy is a growing, disruptive technology with the power to transform the marine sector. Build Back Better aims to make the area a national and international Centre of Excellence in the development and commercialisation of autonomy, digitisation and other low carbon marine technologies.
• Photonics is the technology behind the modern world, from mobile phones, to 5G to parking sensors and essentials of land, sea and air-based autonomous vehicles. They are also used in highly sensitive areas such as nuclear inspection. The area has a significant set of photonics businesses and will attract inward investment and skills development to support the creation of a world-class cluster that puts the heart of the south west at the forefront of cutting edge innovation in this field
• Sustainable aviation is a major growth area. Working in partnership with neighbouring LEPs and the SW Aerospace Cluster, the plan sets out the establishment of a strong inward investment proposition to attract high value investment in rotary technology and electric aircraft as well as increasing homegrown capability. Its UK Future Flight Programme project 2ZERO, is already supporting the design of new aircraft and airport infrastructure to accommodate smart aviation technologies and fuels.

The programmes in Build Back Better will be led by the HotSW LEP but require a collective effort of all partners in the area to deliver them. The plan calls for locally-led delivery through locally-designed funding, and advocates a devolved single pot of both capital and revenue funding. The LEP will be working with business, other local partners and Government to unlock the funding to realise the huge potential of the area.

To read the full plan to Build Back Back visit: www.heartofswlep.co.uk/growing-our-economy/build-back-better-plan

Owl reveals Heart of the South West’s (HotSW) master plan in the next post. Spoiler alert!

“Build Back Better sets out the key transformational opportunities in our area that will unlock investment, create more and better jobs, and deliver carbon-net zero in response to the climate change emergency declared by many of our partners. The plan is rooted in the ambitious vision of our Local Industrial Strategy, maintaining our commitment to increasing productivity through clean and inclusive growth.”

Remember, the model of “growth” that has governed Britain since the 2008 crash is one where the value of a home rises by roughly 5% every year, but the value of an hour’s work rises not at all, year after year. 

So should we be surprised by this?

Restaurants struggle to find staff as lockdown restrictions ease

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com (extract)

Celebrity chef Michael Caines has revealed how his hotel and restaurant businesses are struggling to recruit staff, including for his new Exmouth ventures.

However, it seems the Devon-based chef is not alone because it has been reported bars and restaurants across the country are facing the same difficulties after thousands of workers left the sector. [See also last night’s BBC Spotlight]

Michael has told how he is currently trying to hire 20 new staff members across his hotel and restaurant group. Preparations are being made to open Mickey’s Beach Bar & Restaurant along Exmouth seafront.

It will run alongside Sylvain Peltier and Michael’s Café Patisserie Glacerie, which has already opened, as part of the Exmouth seafront regeneration project.

Michael told the BBC: “Without question, recruitment is a challenge. All of the businesses are extremely busy. For the next three, four months our hotel is completely booked up, so we’re desperately trying to recruit enough staff.

He said Brexit and the pandemic have led European workers to leave and not return, but he said another problem is the number of workers still on furlough.

While they are waiting to return to work they are less willing to switch employers.

“A lot of people feel very concerned about leaving a job where they qualify for furlough to take the new job where they wouldn’t qualify for furlough if there was another lockdown,” he explained.

“So there’s a bit of nervousness from an employee’s point of view.”

He added he is hoping roles will be more easily filled when students break up from college and university and start looking for summer work.

Exmouth’s new waterfront beach bar and restaurant has been granted a premises licence – but the hours of operation have been cut from those requested.

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

Mickey’s Beach Bar & Restaurant, which will be run by celebrity chef Michael Caines, had asked for a premises licence until 2.30am every day, with East Devon District Council’s licensing sub-committee last Wednesday considering the request.

The meeting heard that there were no plans for opening hours to be as late as 2.30am every day but that it gave them the flexibility to do so if required, it would not be operating as a nightclub, and that the venue would be ‘complimentary for Exmouth’.

Objections had poured in against the scheme on the grounds of noise, the hours of operation being too late, and that it could lead to anti-social behaviour.

And while councillors agreed to grant the premises licence, they will only be able to stay open until 1.30am on Thursday to Saturday – and 0.30am on Sunday to Wednesday.

Supply of alcohol, playing of music, and late night refreshments will have to cease at 1am and midnight respectively, an hour earlier than requested.

The permitted hours for use of the two external terraces to the Bar & Restaurant and Café building (one at ground floor and one at first level) will be until midnight only.

Representing Maer Beach Ltd, Gareth Pinwell told the committee that they were making a ‘significant investment into Exmouth and they intend to operate it in a way commensurate with the business’.

Mr Pinwell added: “There has been an agreed solution to the acoustic issues so it will not infringe any of the licensing objectives. The police have raised no objections to the licensing objectives and they are satisfied with the nature of the operation. There is no evidence that the opening hours will offend the objectives and the objections not based on any actual facts

“I respectively suggest that the licensing objectives not offended by the proposal. They have addressed the issues in the representations, the hours of operation are reasonable, and there is no objection from the council or the police. Other issues are anticipatory and there is no direct evidence that the operation will give rise to the anticipated eventualities.”

He added: “Wider antisocial behaviour is already happening, and the risk of public nuisance from our operation will be minimised. If you look at the nature of the application, the way we have dealt with issues, we are a responsible applicant and the requested hours are commensurate with the nature of what it aims to be. This is not intended to be a nightclub at weekends with flashing lights.”

Among the concerns raised by residents were from Daphne Courier, who was concerned at the position of the site on the waterfront, saying that there would be ‘no good publicity for anyone if there was a drowning incident in the area as when people have had a few drinks, they get silly’.

She added: “We have one planet and if we trash this planet, we are harming our children. This will have a massive impact on the environment and local residents. Do we want a watersports venue or a hotspot party venue?”

Cllr Olly Davey added: “The area is dangerous for swimming and this cannot be controlled by the applicant. I think it will attract anti-social behaviour and people will turn up and want to get in and will become a magnet for trouble and there is a strong possibility of noise nuisance to residents.”

Simon Davidson, from the Avenue Residents Association, said: “We know if the only place left in town is this premises, it is where people will gravitate to, having had drinks elsewhere, so there will be pressure on the local environment when they cannot get more drinks,” while Martin Hislop said: “Rarely have there been so many concerns and a consistent and informed theme of the representatives and grave concern over the excessive late night hours concerned, and total disbelief and a real feeling of disappointment of this is not what was promised.”

But while the committee granted the premises licence, hours of operation were cut to 7am to 0.30am on Sunday-Wednesday and until 1.30am on Thursday-Sunday.

Other conditions attached as part of the licence include that sufficient measures must be taken to remove and prevent litter and waste arising or accumulating from customers in the outside event space.

Clear and legible notices shall be also prominently displayed at all exits to the outside event space, warning patrons of the dangers of swimming, and at all times when the outside event space is in operation, portable toilets shall be located in the outside events space and shall be available for use by the public.

Mickey’s Beach Bar and Restaurant will run alongside Sylvain Peltier and Michael’s Café Patisserie Glacerie as part of the Exmouth seafront regeneration project.

The project will incorporate a casual bar complete with resident weekend DJs, first floor destination restaurant with a glasshouse and outdoor terraces alongside neighbouring Café Patisserie Glacerie which will serve artisan pastries and ice-creams.

The opening hours will change with the seasons. Summer will see Mickeys Beach Bar and Restaurant serve breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week across each of the various outlets.

During the cooler months, breakfast will be served on weekends only with lunch and dinner available daily throughout the week.