THE government unlawfully witheld details of billions of pounds’ worth of coronavirus-related contracts during the pandemic, the High Court ruled today.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was taken to court for its “wholesale failure” to disclose details of contracts agreed with companies for services such as the provision and delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The government is legally required to publish a notice within 30 days of the awarded contract for public goods or services worth more than £120,000.

Many multi-million-pound contracts seen by the Morning Star were published up to 10 months after they had been awarded to firms in 2020.

At a hearing earlier this month, the Good Law Project and three MPs – Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas and Liberal Democrat Layla Moran – argued there had been a “dismal” failure by the DHSC to comply with its obligation.

Mr Justice Chamberlain said that there is “now no dispute” that Health Secretary Matt Hancock had, in a “substantial number of cases,” breached his legal obligations and failed to “publish redacted contracts in accordance with the transparency policy.”

The judge said the situation faced by the DHSC in the first months of the pandemic was “unprecedented,” when “large quantities of goods and services had to be procured in very short timescales.”

But he added that the DHSC’s “historic failure” to comply with the obligations to publish contracts because of the difficulties caused by the pandemic was “an excuse, not a justification.”

In a letter to Mr Hancock, Good Law Project founder Jolyon Maugham QC urged him to publish names of all companies awarded contracts under a fast track “VIP lane” and how much they were paid.

He also asked Mr Hancock to commit to recovering public money from firms  who “failed to meet their contractual obligations.”

Mr Maugham also called for “a judge-led public inquiry into the handling of PPE procurement.”

Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said that the ruling was “troubling” but “unsurprising.”

She added: “[The government] must take urgent steps to address this now – by winding down emergency procurement, urgently releasing details of the VIP fast lane, and publishing all outstanding contracts by the end of the month.” 

In a statement, a DHSC spokeswoman said: “We fully recognise the importance of transparency in the award of public contracts and continue to publish information about contracts awarded as soon as possible.”