Recommendation 29

The contract included an open book arrangement giving the Department access to information about Edenred’s income and costs relating to the scheme. However, the Department did not make use of this arrangement during the course of the scheme.57 The Department told us that Edenred had subsequently shared with it some information about costs and profitability. The Permanent Secretary said that she was “very comfortable” with the level of profitability in the contract, but that the Department could not disclose 45 Q 136 46 Association of School and College Leaders, para 17 47 Q 132 48 C&AG’s Report, Figure 3 49 Qq 98, 100–101 50 Supplementary written evidence from the Department for Education 51 Qq 57, 61–62 52 C&AG’s Report, para 4.2 53 Supplementary written evidence from the Department for Education; C&AG’s Report, para 4.5 54 Q 108 55 C&AG’s Report, para 16 56 Qq 52, 55 57 C&AG’s Report, para 16 14 COVID 19: the free school meals voucher scheme this information as there were commercial confidentiality concerns.58 In supplementary written evidence after the oral evidence session, she restated that the Department had now been sighted on the level of profit made by Edenred, and considered it to be “reasonable”, but did not provide figures or explanation to support that judgement.59 58 Qq 105, 109 59 Supplementary written evidence from the Department for Education COVID 19: the free school meals voucher scheme 15