French firm’s £221m boost

A PRIVATE firm running Covid test centres was handed a £221million contract with no competition.

The deal with French firm Sodexo was made as the pandemic started but details have only just emerged.

It came after months of rows over the slow rollout of Boris Johnson’s promised “worldbeating” testing system.

Run by several private firms, the programme hit months of chaos with long waits for a test.

Labour Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Fleur Anderson said: “The first response of the Conservatives was to dish out contracts to businesses without competition.

“We’re more than one year in and ministers should be examining public sector alternatives that are not driven by shareholder returns.”

Sodexo was hired to set up sites around the UK, handling security, cleaning and patient traffic control.

Its accounts for the six months to February reveal “growth of 12.7% and 15.5%” boosted by the UK deal.

The Department of Health said: “We’ve been clear from the outset all contracts must achieve value.”