We are in Court today and tomorrow on a difficult case about an important principle: that the Government mustn't fill public jobs from amongst its friends.
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'By definition, when decision-makers conduct closed recruitments, they are only able to choose between candidates with whom they are already connected.' Our co-claimant: @Halima_Begum@RunnymedeTrust
Judge: I do regard question of whether there was a provision criterion or practice and whether it was particular disadvantage to groups with protected characteristics that we cite as being one of central questions in this case.
Government claims it would have taken 3 months to run an open recruitment process for Test and Trace appointments. But this is not compelling... the process can normally be completed in a few weeks ⬇️
Jason Coppell QC: Harding was already known to Hancock - she was a Tory peer, head of NHS Improvement. The suggestion that she met all the criteria could not have been made without any pre-existing knowledge of her
One email shows a Cabinet Office official describing the recruitment process for the head of Test and Trace as 'ludicrous'.
We agree. Appointing such an important role at such breakneck speed with so little information was seemingly ludicrous
Government claims they were justified in not having a proper recruitment process for Dido Harding as Head of Test and Trace because it was a 'temporary appointment' - but the letter of her appointment has no term in it 👀
The practice seems to be that direct public appointments (of those linked to the Conservative Party) are seldom remunerated - e.g. Dido Harding, Lord Feldman, George Pascoe-Watson, Gina Coladangelo's first role..."
When recruitment processes are closed, the only applicants who can be considered are those in Ministers’ phone books. The Government’s failure to offer remuneration for many of these high level full-time roles shuts out those who don’t have family wealth
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Government has hit us with a shock legal bill in our challenge with @RunnymedeTrust over its appointment of Conservative Peer Dido Harding to run the disastrous Test and Trace programme – without open competition🚨 (1/7)
Back in March, Government said their costs ‘would be in the region of £35,000 to £50,000’, so we didn’t seek a costs cap (a Court order that would have ‘capped’ how much we’d have to pay Government if we don’t win) (2/7)
A couple of months later, they wrote to say their expected costs would actually be closer to £150,000… (3/7)
Then, the next day it emerged the VIP list included 3 more companies, including Transport Secretary Grant Shapps - named as the ‘source of referral’ for VIP firm ‘EyeSpace Eyewear’ who landed a £1.4m deal to provide Goggles. Full story here (3/6) glplive.org/3b7
This afternoon Government is holding an emergency debate on standards - with ongoing accusations of ‘sleaze’.
Luckily, we’ve been keeping track 👇(1/6)
Government told us there was no ‘VIP Lane’ for testing contracts. But we’ve uncovered evidence that shows there was and Ministers used it to refer firms for fast track treatment (2/6) glplive.org/bqn
The pandemic procurement sleaze doesn’t stop there… We revealed a testing firm was awarded government approval - after a Conservative-linked fixer lobbied Matt Hancock (3/6) glplive.org/hpd
From corruption, to a Government U-turn to launching a new legal challenge. It’s been a helluva week. Fighting for our democracy is more important than ever - here’s how we’ve done just that in the last 7 days🧵 (1/6)
IMMENSA SCANDAL: on Monday we launched new legal proceedings against the Health Secretary. We think Government has let people down - and endangered lives. You can support the legal action here ⏬ (2/6) glplive.org/v5s
On Wednesday we won a long-running FOI battle which revealed private hospitals were paid a staggering £1.5 billion during the pandemic. However just 00.08% of the beds were used. (3/6) glplive.org/rma
Last night, 250 Conservative MPs voted to rip up the rules to protect one of their own. This is truly shocking, but it's also not surprising. It might seem Government sleaze is becoming the norm - but we're determined not to let it… THREAD ⬇️ (1/8)
Back in July, we forced Government to admit at least 4 Ministers used private emails for Government business… (2/8) glplive.org/89g
… we don’t think shady deals and private messages are good enough - so we’re bringing legal action to hold Government to the standards they should be (3/8) glplive.org/k0z
How’s your week been? We’ve had some major developments 🧵 (1/6)
🚦🎉We were given the go ahead by the High Court in our challenge over Ministers’ persistent use of private emails and messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal for Government business (2/6) glplive.org/PrivateEmails--
We stood up for the right of trans people to access the healthcare they need and deserve 🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️ (3/6) glplive.org/TransHealth