The Times - UK (2020-10-15)

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2 2GM Thursday October 15 2020 | the times


News


The government is paying private
sector consultants the equivalent of
million-pound wages to work on its
test-and-trace system.
Some executives from Boston Con-
sulting Group (BCG) helping the gov-
ernment to set up and run its testing
system are being paid day rates of about
£7,000, equivalent to a salary of about
£1.5 million, according to Sky News.
The revelation is the latest evidence
of the cost of the testing scheme, which
is budgeted to be £12 billion this year.
According to the documents, the gov-
ernment has paid BCG about £10 mil-
lion for a team of about 40 consultants
to work on the testing system between
the end of April and late August.
While the government pays the con-
sultancy, its fee is set by the “day rates”
of the individuals. BCG has day rates for
public sector work of up to £7,360 for
the most senior consultants. The docu-
ments show that the Department of
Health and Social Care has been given
a 10-15 per cent discount.
There has been growing consterna-
tion about the cost of Britain’s Covid-
testing system and questions over value

Contact-trace consultants


are being paid £7,000 a day


Robert Miller
for money. Toby Perkins, a Labour MP,
said that the government was paying
consultants thousands of pounds “to
preside over this shambolic sight”. He
added: “You won’t find dedicated public
servants being paid £7,500 per day...
but what you will find is a basic compe-
tence, a knowledge of their area, a de-
sire to make sure that the systems work
before they are implemented.”
Last week Sky News revealed that
the government had more than 1,
consultants from Deloitte working on
the programme at day rates of as much
as £2,360. It has also seen separate
documents revealing that the govern-
ment has since recruited more consult-
ants to work on its so-called moonshot
programme, which aims to introduce
mass Covid-19 testing.
Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of
the Management Consultancies Asso-
ciation, said that the association’s mem-
bers working with the government
were “evaluated for efficiency and cost”.
A Department of Health and Social
Care spokesman said: “To build the
largest diagnostic network in British
history, it requires us to work with
public and private sector partners with
specialist skills and experience.”

Shops to offer


cashback with


no purchase


Callum Jones


Shoppers will be able to obtain cash
over the counter in stores even if they
have not bought anything under plans
drawn up in Whitehall to scrap Euro-
pean rules.
All retailers, from independent cor-
ner shops to large supermarket chains,
would be permitted to provide cash-
back without purchase as ministers
seek to preserve the circulation of notes
and coins despite a sharp drop in usage.
While payments with card and
mobile devices have soared since ven-
dors were encouraged to go contactless
to combat Covid-19, the Treasury is
publishing proposals today designed to
ensure cash remains “widely available”
for elderly and vulnerable consumers.
Officials said an EU directive had
prevented many retailers from offering
cashback without a purchase. They in-
tend to liberalise rules after the post-
Brexit transition period ends at the turn
of the year. Cashback is second only to
cash machines as the most widely used
method of cash withdrawal, with £3.
billion distributed from tills last year.

Rationing by supermarkets failed to
prevent empty shelves because shop-
pers were buying only a little more than
usual and not stockpiling, a report has
said.
In March shops introduced restric-
tions for the first time since the Second
World War on items such as lavatory
paper, pasta, rice and hand gel because
of fears about panic buying.
A report by the Institute for Fiscal
Studies (IFS) has shown that significant
surges in demand were caused by more
households than usual buying these
products, but with only a small increase
in the average quantities bought.
“Given current uncertainty, it is espe-
cially important to understand how
households responded in the run-up to
the lockdown in March,” Kate Smith,
an associate director at the IFS, said.
In the week before the lockdown,
consumer spending on staples peaked
at 80 per cent higher than the daily
average, according to the IFS’s analysis

Supermarket rationing ‘did


not prevent food shortages’


Ashley Armstrong of millions of transactions. In the four
weeks before the lockdown there was a
25 per cent increase in demand for
products including soup and lavatory
rolls. Soap sales doubled as people were
advised that hand washing was the
most effective way of limiting the
spread of infection.
“This was mainly driven by many
more people than usual choosing to
buy these categories, not by unreason-
ably large purchases by a small number
of households,” Ms Smith said.
Supermarket chiefs had blamed the
shortage of lavatory rolls on a herd
mentality by shoppers.
The report showed that wealthy
households bought more items than
less well-off families. Richard Walker,
the head of Iceland and Food Ware-
house, has said that stockpiling was “a
middle-class privilege and social injus-
tice”.
The IFS report suggested that the
limits on the quantity of single items
bought were unlikely to have prevented
surges in demand and shortages

because by the time they had been im-
plemented demand was already falling.
Martin O’Connell, deputy research
director at the IFS, said: “It is unlikely
that an earlier introduction of limits on
the quantity of products that people
can buy per visit would have prevented
the spikes in demand and subsequent
shortages. Instead, policies such as
dedicated shopping hours for the
elderly may better help protect the
most vulnerable consumers.”
Last month Morrisons became the
first large supermarket to reinstate
rationing on products such as lavatory
paper and disinfectant to ensure that
there was enough for everyone. Tesco
swiftly followed suit.
Giles Hurley, Aldi’s chief executive,
has written to customers to ask them
“to continue to shop considerately.
There is no need to buy more than you
usually would.”
During the crisis supermarkets said
there was enough food and lavatory
paper but the huge demand put their
logistic networks under pressure.

Londoners must be aware that a change
in restrictions is increasingly likely and
in very short order, based on the expert
public health advice,” a source close to
the mayor said. “London leaders are
clear that we need increased support for
businesses and workers and a clear
pathway out of further restrictions.
They emphasised the urgent need for
the government to fix test-and-trace to
give us more reliable data than we have.”
Mr Johnson is still against what he
calls the “disaster” of an England-wide
circuit breaker but ministers have told
him that he has seven days to decide.
One said that the measure would
become inevitable in four weeks as
local lockdowns failed to bring the
R-rate to less than 1 and “we might as
well get on with it now”.
In the Commons Mr Johnson

clashed with Sir Keir over his call for a
national lockdown, saying that it would
cause misery. He urged the Labour
leader to intervene instead with civic
leaders in northern England holding
out against accepting severe local
restrictions, including the closure of
pubs and bars.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Great-
er Manchester, dug in against govern-
ment pressure, saying that the national
circuit breaker was preferable.
Northern Ireland will also enter a
period of more intense restrictions with
the closure of schools, pubs and rest-
aurants. From 6pm tomorrow pubs
and restaurants will shut for four weeks
and schools for two weeks, one of
which will cover the half-term break. It
reported a record 1,217 new cases
yesterday.
Coronavirus latest, pages 6-
Johnson must seek Labour’s
co-operation, leading article, page 27

The Tier 2 rules


6 The “rule of six” applies outdoors,
including in private gardens

6 People cannot meet anyone
indoors who is not part of their
household or support bubble. This
applies to homes and public venues

6 All venues and businesses can
remain open apart from those
stipulated in law such as nightclubs

6 Some businesses selling food and
drink must close from 10pm to 5am.
Takeaways can continue to sell food
after 10pm

6 Weddings and funerals can go
ahead with restrictions on the
number of guests

6 Sports and exercise classes are
allowed indoors as long as the “rule
of six” is followed

continued from page 1
Tougher curbs for London

Anthony Loyd has been named print


journalist of the year at the London Press


Club awards for his ‘stunning exclusive’


with the British Isis bride Shamima


Begum in the al-Hawl camp in northern


Syria. It is the latest in a long line of


honours for the Times war correspondent.


Matt Chorley, the columnist and Times Radio


presenter, was named digital journalist of the


year for Red Box, the daily political briefing


he edited until earlier this year.


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Goldman profit


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Profits at Goldman
Sachs nearly doubled
to $3.5 billion in the
third quarter, adding to
evidence that the
American economy
has recovered more
quickly than had been
thought from the
pandemic. Analysts
had expected profits of
$1.9 billion. Page 34

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9.40am The Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan


2pm The playwright Sir Tom Stoppard reflects on
his life in a new biography written by Hermione Lee

6.45pm The Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing
discusses the future of hospitality

8.30pm Phil Williams chats to the former


Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, right


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newspaper front pages


‘Sham’ charity


helps landlords


Preservation and


Promotion of the Arts,


a charity, has been


condemned as a


“sham” after a court


found that it helped


property owners to


avoid paying business


rates by organising


exhibitions in vacant


buildings. It said that it


would appeal. Page 13


Queues at US


polling stations


More than 14 million
Americans have
already voted for their
next president, with
long queues at polling
stations suggesting
that the clash between
President Trump and
Joe Biden could beat
the biggest turnout on
record, despite the
pandemic. Page 28

Awards for The Times


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