Private firm to be awarded £1m health contract at new asylum accommodation site

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A private company is to be awarded a £1.1m contract to provide health services at one of the government’s controversial new large asylum accommodation sites. The NHS trust covering the disused RAF Wethersfield site in Essex said it was making the agreement without any competition “for reasons of extreme urgency”, after being told 1,700 asylum seekers would be moved there. “The authority was required to identify a provider of this service at pace as the initial go live was planned for April.” The NHS trust said normal competitive procedures “could not be complied with” in the time period before it was told Wethersfield would open start housing people, adding: “As such, the authority have undertaken an analysis of the market and deemed Commisceo to be in the best position to ensure delivery of primary medical services.” Although the notice was published on the government’s website as an “awarded contract”, NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board said the document was a notice of intention and the contract had not yet been awarded. Councils covering RAF Wethersfield and a Lincolnshire military base being turned into asylum accommodation launched the case after Suella Braverman declared an “emergency” to bypass normal planning permission.