It’s been a very good year for Serco. The British outsourcing company which runs the Test and Trace service is making some £50 million a month, according to an answer given this week by health minister Jo Churchill. Serco declared in June a 50 per cent jump in profits based off its work on various government contracts. Revenues for the FTSE250 giant are forecast to be £2.2 billion – almost 20 per cent higher than the same period in 2020.
The company’s links with the Conservative party are well-known – its CEO is Rupert Soames, brother of the legendary Sir Nicholas who sat in the Commons from 1983 until 2019. The current minister of state for health meanwhile is Edward Argar, a former head of public health at Serco. But now it seems the contact tracing giant has, appropriately enough, opted to strengthen its own contact book by donating office space to rising star Ranil Jayawardena, under secretary of state at the Department of International Trade.
Jayawardena’s most recent entry for the register of members’ interests shows Serco UK have donated the equivalent of £19,000 of office space for the use of his constituency team.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in