Government breaks promise to release private documents on Owen Paterson’s lobbying

Ministers had promised to release minutes, notes and details of meetings and contracts by the end of January

Conservative MP Owen Paterson resigned as an MP after the scandal (Stefan Roussea/PA) (PA Wire)

The government has broken its promise to publish internal documents that could shine a light on whether Tory MPs helped private healthcare companies land lucrative emergency Covid contracts.

On 17 November last year MPs voted to force ministers to release minutes of meetings between Owen Paterson, health minister Lord Bethel and private healthcare company Randox.

The government was also ordered to release all correspondence relating to two contracts with the company – which Mr Paterson lobbied on behalf of, in breach of Commons rules.

The department of health and social care committed to releasing the documents by the end of January, but has still not done so – causing anger among opposition MPs.

Raising a point of order in the Commons on Tuesday Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds urged the Speaker to take action.

"Seventy-six days have passed since this House agreed to the terms of a humble address, compelling the government to publish the minutes and notes of the meeting of 9 April 2020, between Lord Bethel, Owen Patterson, and Randox representatives, and all correspondence relating to two specified government contracts awarded to that company," she said.

"Sixty seven days have passed since the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care promised in writing that the government would respond to the House no later than the end of January.

"Given that today is 1 February, and taking into account that the chair has expressed an expectation on the government to fulfil its obligations under that humble address in a timely fashion, is it in order for ministers to feel to meet a self-imposed deadline to comply with the instructions of this house? If not, what consequences should befall those on the government benches, who fail to keep their promise?"

The health department had been asked for the documents under freedom of information law in 2020, well before MPs ordered their release.

That FOI request was already 11 months old when the Owen Paterson scandal hit the headlines in earnest in October 2021. FOI requests are meant to be answered within 28 days but the department said it had not found the time to respond.

Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, said Mr Javid had told him with one day to go before the latest January deadline elapsed that the documents would now be delivered before the February recess.

"What I will say is that the Secretary of Health did notify me yesterday that he will confirm that the relevant materials will be laid by the February recess," he said.

"What I would say is if not, I'm sure a UQ and the honourable member would use other ways to ensure that that is delivered. But that is the state of play at the moment.

Randox was notably awarded two major contracts for Covid-19 testing during the pandemic – one for £133m on 18 May 2020 and another for £346.5m contract on 26 November 2020.

Neither contract was advertised or opened to competition, which was allowed under the rules because of the urgency of the situation.

In August 2020 Randox recalled 750,000 test kits sent to care homes and individuals because of faults, while the health secretary at the time also said Randox kits should not be used until further notice.

The company was also paying then Conservative MP Owen Paterson £8,333 a month for 16 hours of work. Mr Paterson quit as an MP after he was sanctioned for his lobbying on behalf of the company – but not before the government tried to abolish the Commons standards watchdog that ordered its suspension.

Randox has said: "Owen Paterson MP has played no role in securing any Randox contract with DHSC."

An inquiry by the National Audit Office into the Randox contracts is due to report in early 2022.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have followed a rigorous process to identify all relevant information, reviewing over 11,000 documents against the terms of the Humble Address. This exercise has absorbed significant Departmental resources and has also been balanced against other priorities including COVID-19 related work.

“Given the scale of the task and the importance of ensuring Parliament receives a fully quality assured response to its motion, we will lay the relevant materials before the February recess.”