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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Conservative peer helped land £50m PPE contract for firm linked to ... (The Guardian)

Former party chairman referred SG Recruitment to 'VIP lane' after introduction by peer who owned shares in parent company.

The DHSC and Sumner declined to comment when asked if there was a dispute over whether SG Recruitment had delivered the material as ordered, citing commercial confidentiality. I was then chairman of a holding company which, through a subsidiary, had expertise in healthcare and I suggested that this company might be of assistance. Feldman has said that his role at the DHSC was to help find urgently needed healthcare supplies and equipment at a time of national crisis. The watchdog said: “There is no evidence to suggest that the fact that Lord Chadlington provided Mr Sumner with the email address played any part in the decision to award the two contracts to SG Recruitment UK.” Feldman himself added: “The full extent of the introduction from Peter Chadlington was that he provided David Sumner with my DHSC email address. My only action in relation to the email from David Sumner was to forward it on to the civil servants whose details he had been given for that purpose. Companies referred to the VIP lane, which was operated for recommendations by MPs, peers, and other politically connected people, had a Sumner declined to say by how much the company profited from the contracts. The company also sought to fill vacancies for nurses and domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Malaysia. The second contract, for £26.1m to supply hand sanitiser, was [awarded on 28 May 2020](https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/2acda44b-6d22-424a-bd3d-ab539b50b967?origin=SearchResults&p=1). There is mounting parliamentary scrutiny over the government’s decision to use a VIP lane to prioritise offers of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, benefiting companies that were recommended by Tory peers and other politicians and officials. Sumner mentioned on the call that Chadlington had provided him with Feldman’s email address.

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Image courtesy of "The National"

Tory peer helped secure £50m PPE deal for firm linked to fellow Tory (The National)

A CONSERVATIVE peer who advised the government during the coronavirus pandemic helped a company secure PPE contracts worth £50 million after he was…

He was appointed a Conservative member of the Lords in 1996. After that I had no further involvement in this matter.” DHSC officials then processed the offer as a VIP high-priority case. He said: “During a global pandemic when the UK was facing a crisis in the provision of PPE to save the lives of its citizens, the secretary of state publicly called for help. Chadlington said he had not referred SG Recruitment to the government to be included in the VIP lane, nor had he lobbied for the firm. In November of last year, after the DHSC was forced by the information commissioner to publish a list of companies awarded PPE contracts via the VIP lane and who had referred them, SG Recruitment was confirmed as one of 51 companies on the list. The watchdog explained: “There is no evidence to suggest the fact that Lord Chadlington provided Mr Sumner with the email address played any part in the decision to award the two contracts to SG Recruitment UK.” A spokesperson for the peer said of his phone call with Sumner: “Andrew’s recollection is that during this call, David Sumner introduced himself, informed Andrew Feldman that he had been given his departmental email address by Peter Chadlington, and said that he was going to send him an email in relation to PPE provision. “My only action in relation to the email from David Sumner was to forward it on to the civil servants whose details he had been given for that purpose. In its financial accounts for the year prior to being awarded the PPE contracts by the DHSC, SG Recruitment turned over less than £500,000 and made a loss of £700,000. Feldman told officials in the email: “An interesting offer from David Sumner who was introduced to me by Lord Chadlington.” His referral of the company to the “VIP lane” came after an initial phone call on April 20 2020 from the company’s chief executive and ultimate owner David Sumner, a healthcare entrepreneur based in the United Arab Emirates.

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