OUTSOURCING CONTRACTING OUT PRIVATIZATION

NHS Test and Trace is paying 73 consultancy firms an AVERAGE of £163,000 PER EMPLOYEE

Test and Trace private consultancy firms have been paid £375 million so far

Government-funded service currently employs 2,300 management consultants

The figures reflect number of consultants working at the start of November

PUBLISHED:  8 January 2021

Test and Trace consultancy firms working for the NHS are being paid sums which equate to an average of £163,000 a consultant, it has emerged.

The figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show that the government-funded service currently employs 2,300 management consultants, with £375 million being spent so far on private consultancy services.

It comes as Boris Johnson today announced the NHS will be able to give 200,000 jabs every day by next Friday as part of his ambitious lockdown-ending plans.

Test and Trace consultancy firms working for the NHS are being paid sums which equate to an average of £163,000 a consultant. (Stock image)

Health Minister Helen Whately released the figures, which reflect the number of consultants who were working at the start of November last year, in response to a question from Labour MP Andy Slaughter.

Mr Slaughter later told The Times: 'These are staggering sums of public money being handed out to consultants with no scrutiny or explanation how they are chosen.

'As we enter the worst phase of the pandemic, if mistakes have been made these must be laid bare.'

Ms Whately also explained that consultant were being recruited from 73 different suppliers.

Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), said: 'The charge from consulting firms including various operating costs that goes well beyond consultant salaries including product development, solution development, security system requirements, legal costs, overheads, and training and recruitment costs.

'A large number of consultancy firms have been brought into support critical government projects during the pandemic including on Test and Trace which has required people with expertise in digital technology, supply chain, logistics, procurement and in delivering major government projects.

'The consulting sector has provided multi-disciplinary capabilities and senior experience very quickly to support Government and has helped deal with complex negotiations around data, infrastructure and procurement at pace.

'All MCA member firms used by government in this period have been procured through competitively tendered Crown Commercial Service frameworks which evaluate bidding firms against quality and cost criteria. As part of these contracts, consultancy firms are required to upskill civil servants and transfer knowledge to increase capability for the future.

'We should remember that Government is dealing with an unprecedented volume of workload and major upheaval due to COVID-19 and using external resources has enabled them to work quickly and with intensity in many areas.'

In November, it was revealed that Britain's creaking Test and Trace system was still not reaching at least four in ten contacts of those testing positive for Covid-19.

Figures showed that in cases managed either online via email or by telephone by private companies, Serco and Sitel, just 58.9 per cent of close contacts were reached.

Boris Johnson today announced the NHS will be able to give 200,000 jabs every day by next Friday as part of ambitious lockdown-ending plans.

It came after a BBC investigation claimed it could actually be as low as 50 per cent due to IT problems and delays in getting contact details for people to call.

Downing Street defended the 'colossal' achievements of Test and Trace but acknowledged improvements could be made.

A No 10 spokesman said at the time: 'We are testing more people per head of population than any other European country and that will grow thanks to our increased testing capacity.'

It comes as Boris Johnson today announced he would bring in the Army to bolster the UK's coronavirus vaccination drive and claimed the NHS would be able to give 200,000 jabs every day by next Friday as part of ambitious lockdown-ending plans.

With the roll-out of vaccines the only light at the end of the tunnel, the Prime Minister reassured the public there would be enough doses available to get all the top priority groups immunised by mid-February.

He also pledged to offer every care home resident a jab by the end of January and announced a new national online booking system that is hoped will speed up the process.

Mr Johnson's mammoth jab pledge — which critics fear he won't be able to deliver because it is over-ambitious — came moments after Britain recorded 1,162 Covid deaths in the second worst day of the pandemic.

Department of Health data shows only April 21 had a worse death toll than today, when 1,224 victims were declared.