Latest news with #EmilyMiddleton
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labour facing fresh 'cronyism' row after donor wins £5m contract for project 'overseen by former staff'
Labour is facing a fresh 'cronyism' row after it emerged a party donor won a multi-million pound contract for a project partly overseen by one of its former employees. Public Digital is helping to run a 'Test, Learn and Grow' initiative across public services as part of a Whitehall reform programme. The London-based consultancy is being paid £5million as the 'strategic delivery partner' for the Cabinet Office initiative. This will see 'innovation squads' of policy officials, tech specialists and other experts sent to communities across England to try and deliver better public services. According to The Times, Emily Middleton - a former partner at Public Digital - sits on the 'programme board' for Test, Learn and Grow. Public Digital donated the equivalent of £100,000 to Labour prior to last year's general election. The firm was also caught up in a row over the appointment of Ms Middleton to a senior Government role shortly after Labour won power. She was last summer named a director general at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) earning between £125,000 and £208,100 a year. Ms Middleton had previously been on secondment to the office of Peter Kyle, who is now the Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, from Public Digital. The costs of her employment by Mr Kyle's office, while in opposition, were paid for by the consultancy firm as a 'donation in kind'. The Tories have previously demanded an investigation into the links between Labour and Public Digital. Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, said Ms Middleton's role with the Test, Learn and Grow project represented a 'a serious potential conflict of interest'. 'Labour ministers must urgently come clean on these murky decisions,' he added. Rose Whiffen, senior research officer at Transparency International UK, said: 'When Government departments award contracts to firms that previously employed their senior officials, they must demonstrate these contracts were won through genuine open competition - or provide clear justification if not. 'Simply acknowledging the existing relationship is not enough. The public deserves to see clear evidence of how potential conflicts of interest have been actively identified and mitigated.' Whitehall sources said Ms Middleton had not attended either of the two Test, Learn and Grow programme board meetings that have taken place to date. They also said the programme board is not involved in commercial decision making. A Government spokesman said the newspaper report 'has no basis'. 'Emily Middleton has had no role in decisions or deliberations relating to this contract or any other Public Digital has bid for,' they added. A Public Digital spokeswoman said: 'Our team's expertise, not political affiliations, has earned us the trust of Government bodies across multiple projects. 'The Government is right to recognise that bringing in outside expertise, including from the private sector, is sorely needed to drive reform and create better public services for everyone.'
Times
31-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Labour ‘cronyism' as firm linked to tech secretary wins contracts
A consultancy that had a senior staff member seconded to work for the technology secretary while Labour was in opposition has won more than £10 million worth of government contracts since the election. Public Digital, which specialises in transforming digital services, seconded one of its partners to work for the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, and help write Labour's technology policies before the general election. A donation by the firm was registered with the Electoral Commission as being equivalent to £100,000. The company has received a string of contracts to overhaul IT systems across government since the election last year. These included a £5 million contract to help oversee a government programme to reform local public services, which was awarded by the Cabinet Office. Public Digital was also given £3 million to lead the Post Office's IT transformation. Kyle's department did not award any of Public Digital's contracts but the technology secretary has been a vocal advocate of using technology to reform the public sector. His department hired Emily Middleton, the Public Digital partner seconded to his office last year, in a senior civil service role shortly after the election. While on secondment she had continued to be paid by Public Digital. A Public Digital spokesman said the firm 'has a proven track record of delivering exceptional digital transformation services'. He added: 'Our team's expertise, not political affiliations, has earned us the trust of government bodies.' A government spokesman said all contracts were awarded under procurement rules and that some of them were managed via a third-party procurement company. The spokesman added that Public Digital had also won government and quango contracts under the previous Conservative administration. The value of Whitehall contacts won by Public Digital, however, has surged since Labour entered office. Public Digital was given on average £2.56 million a year from government departments in the three years before the election. In the 12 months after, the firm has been awarded £10.2 million, a fourfold increase in annual cash terms. The Conservative Party has called for an independent investigation into the links between Public Digital and the Labour Party, while the country's biggest anti-corruption charity has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest. Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, called for an 'urgent and independent investigation' into Public Digital's relationship with the government. 'More sleaze and scandal from Starmer's government,' he said. Duncan Hames, director of policy at Transparency International UK and a former MP, said: 'This case raises serious questions about how public money is now spent under the new government. 'When a company gives senior staff to support a political party and then receives valuable government contracts after they take power, this raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest.' Public Digital was first embroiled in a row over alleged Labour cronyism shortly after last year's election. Before Middleton began to work for Kyle, she was also seconded to Labour Together, a think tank with close ties to Sir Keir Starmer and his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. She was at the centre of cronyism allegations last year when she was appointed to a senior civil service role in Kyle's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology weeks after the election. She was hired as a department director general in a fast-track process, officially classed as an 'exception' appointment, which bypassed the usual open recruitment process. The government said at the time that Middleton's appointment, which came with a salary upwards of £125,000 a year, followed the appropriate civil service recruitment rules. One of Public Digital's executives also became a director at HMRC months after the election, but stepped down from the position in April. A government source said it had been 'ridiculous' and 'foolish' to appoint Middleton to a director general role, especially as it put a target on Labour's back so early into Starmer's term. 'She may be very clever, but that is a very senior position for someone who is quite early in their career,' the source added. Her appointment was one of several to be subject to an investigation by the Civil Service Commission in the months after Labour's election victory. The commission said it was 'largely satisfied' with the current recruitment processes in place. A government spokesman said: 'All contracts are awarded in line with public procurement legislation. 'Public Digital is a leading digital consultancy and a long-running supplier for government and the wider public sector, holding a number of contracts awarded under previous administrations.'
