Statement from Sarah Harrison regarding the Boardman review of Cabinet Office COVID-19 Communications Procurement
Updated 7 May 2021
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Statement by Sarah Harrison, Cabinet Office Chief Operating Officer.
Nigel Boardman’s report and recommendations for improvements to Cabinet Office procurement processes has today been published on gov.uk.
This review was commissioned by the Cabinet Office in September. Preliminary internal fact finding had suggested that further exploration was needed into the way in which some contracts for communications services were awarded during the early stages of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to learn lessons from the response to the pandemic and improve our processes for the future.
Fact-finding was already underway in response to claims for Judicial Review relating to the award of two of these contracts. Nigel Boardman was asked to consider the results of this exercise and make recommendations for improvements. This would allow us to work quickly on making improvements to our guidance and process.
The report contains 28 specific recommendations centred around two broad themes, namely the Cabinet Office’s procurement processes and the way government manages actual and perceived conflicts of interest.
It is important to note that there are some areas for recommendations which are already standard practice in some parts of the Cabinet Office, or in which we have made, or will shortly make, improvements. The fact-finding exercise was specific to communications contracts and in one small and specialist business unit. As the report notes, and would be expected, there are many examples of good practice in the Cabinet Office. Nevertheless I agree with Nigel Boardman that, in relation to the areas that he has scrutinised, there are clear lessons to be learnt and improvements to be made.
The Cabinet Office is strongly committed to learning lessons from these events, and as such I can confirm that we will accept and implement all 28 recommendations in full. We take our obligations to transparency, integrity, and ensuring value for money extremely seriously, and It’s important that the public has confidence in government to manage taxpayer’s money correctly.
I have written to the Cabinet Office Board, and have set out the next steps for implementation which the Cabinet Office Audit and Risk Committee will oversee, We will update on progress in six months time.
Finally, as the report acknowledges, I would like to note again the exceptional circumstances in which officials in the Cabinet Office, like other departments, were operating, working at tremendous pace in order to safeguard the public during an unprecedented global pandemic.