Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
The Department failed to meet basic requirements to report publicly ministers’ meetings with external parties.
Recommendation
The Department failed to meet basic requirements to report publicly ministers’ meetings with external parties. The Ministerial Code requires all departments to report meetings that ministers have had with external parties and any hospitality received, in the interests of transparency and accountability. The Department properly declared only four of the eight meetings on testing that involved its ministers and Randox. In addition, it kept minutes of only two of these meetings. Details of some of these meetings emerged only because documents relating to Randox’s contracts were requested by MPs through the ‘Humble Address’ process and published in February 2022. The Department also did not declare hospitality that the then Secretary of State had received from Randox’s managing director on a ministerial visit to Northern Ireland in 2019 and Mr Hancock has since told us that his ministerial private office considered it was a political event and therefore did not need to be declared.1 The Department’s disclosures and record-keeping have been well below the standards we would expect under any circumstances. In emergency situations it is even more important to ensure that information is correctly documented. Recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response, the Department should set out how it intends to strengthen its transparency processes and ensure that it enforces requirements and takes action where they are not followed.
Government Response Summary
The Department has strengthened reporting and quality assurance processes, including PPS and ministerial clearance for each entry, and has updated the register of ministerial meetings.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation Implemented The exponential increase in departmental activity and the urgency with which meetings were conducted at the height of the pandemic resulted in inadvertent omissions from the register of ministerial meetings. Many hundreds of meetings with external parties were routinely published in line with transparency requirements over this period. The department has undertaken a review of historic ministerial diaries and has, where necessary, updated the register in line with Cabinet Office requirements. The department takes transparency requirements for ministerial teams extremely seriously and has strengthened both reporting and quality assurance processes. Minutes are taken for all meetings with external parties and are centrally held. The clearance requirements for quarterly transparency returns are in line with best practice across government, including PPS and ministerial clearance for each entry. Sessions led by the Cabinet Office on transparency returns are attended by those responsible for compiling ministerial returns. Corporate objectives, including transparency requirements, are reinforced across ministerial private offices and in all performance management conversations. Should there be a future failure to meet requirements, the department will correct the public record at the first available opportunity and will ensure that new employees are reminded of the importance of adhering to transparency obligations. 3: PAC conclusion: The Department did not deal with potential conflicts of interest, despite clear concerns about Randox’s political connections. 3a: PAC recommendation: Alongside its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us to clarify the information it had on declared private interests and how it used this information to identify potential conflicts of interest in its procurement decisions. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation 3.2 The department has written to the Committee on 31 October 2022 setting out its response as requested. 3b: PAC recommendation: In addition to the expected new requirements to record conflicts of interest, government should strengthen its approach to ensure that conflicts of interest are not just documented, but also communicated and acted on by those awarding contracts. 3.3 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 3.4 Specific legal duties in the Public Contracts Regulations require government departments to take appropriate measures to effectively prevent, identify and remedy conflicts of interest arising in the conduct of procurement procedures, so as to avoid any distortion of competition and to ensure equal treatment of all bidders and suppliers. Companies may be excluded from bidding for government contracts where a conflict cannot be effectively remedied. 3.5 The government recognises that the experience of COVID-19 shows it could be better at ensuring consistency in the management of conflicts of interest. Updated commercial guidance on the management of actual and perceived conflicts of interest was published in May 2021 (PPN 04/21: Applying Exclusions in Public Procurement, Managing Conflicts of Interest and Whistleblowing) 3.6 The department has completed its implementation of this PPN, having introduced a clear process to ensure that conflicts of interest are considered at appropriate stages of the procurement lifecycle, including a review of the declaration forms in line with the PPN. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is in the process of updating its conflicts of interest policies in response to the PPN. 3.7 The department will ensure that all its contract managers (officials) routinely complete a conflicts of interest declaration during their involvement in managing contracts. All contractors working for the department are required to complete the conflicts of interest form. 3.8 The Procurement Bill currently going through Parliament continues to place legal duties on contracting authorities with respect to the prevention and remedy of conflicts of interest. 4: PAC conclusion: The award of the first Randox contract did not receive adequate scrutiny from senior officials and the role of ministers in signing it off was unclear. 4: PAC recommendation: Government should provide additional guidance to clarify the role of ministers in procurement processes, including contract discussions and approvals. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation 4.2 The Government Commercial Function published guidance for Ministerial involvement in commercial activity and the contracting process in July 2022. 4.3 Ministers have a vital role in setting commercial priorities, making sure that the right suppliers are chosen to address the right requirement and managing contracts to achieve the performance and value required. The guidance sets out in detail the expected role and involvement of Ministers from market eng