UK health department played ‘fast and loose’ when awarding Covid contracts to Randox

Commons public accounts committee issues damning report into 777m spent with firm that employed Owen Paterson as lobbyist

Ministers and government officials played fast and loose" when awarding 777m in Covid contracts to a healthcare firm that employed the Conservative MP Owen Paterson as a lobbyist, the head of parliament's spending watchdog has said.

In a damning report, the House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) concluded that the government made a series of failures, making it impossible to know if the contracts had been awarded properly to Randox.