Did Kids Company receive preferential treatment and funds because it was the ‘favoured’ charity of the Prime Minister? This was the key question put to two senior civil servants at the Public Accounts select committee this afternoon — and naturally, their answers were evasive. Richard Heaton, formerly the permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, said ‘I was aware it was prime minister’s favoured charity’ but there was no smoking gun that it received any ‘special treatment’ — Heaton said he ‘didn’t see anything unusual in the correspondence’ — although the definition of what counted as special treatment was pulled apart throughout. It remains to be seen how this preference was known.
Heaton, who appeared alongside the permanent secretary at the Department for Education Chris Wormald, described Kids Company as an ‘unusual jewel in our funding crown’ because it was ‘well-networked and well-liked politically’. He acknowledged the charity wasn’t very good at setting outcomes but argued the government was aware of this and worked to improve it. There
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