Matt Hancock followed the rules over contracts between a family company and the NHS, a minister has said.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said Matt Hancock had followed the rules when it came to declaring an interest in a family company that has contracts with the NHS.
The Health Secretary declared in the MPs’ register of interests in March this year that he owns more than 15% of shares in Topwood Limited, a firm which specialises in secure storage, shredding and scanning of documents.
Mr Eustice, speaking to the Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, said: “The reason we know about this is because Matt Hancock did what all ministers do in this case, which is to declare that interest.
“And so he did the right thing, he declared that – he had no role whatsoever around that business, so yes there is nothing wrong with ministers having financial interests, providing they declare them in the appropriate way.”
Asked whether lobbying rules were “broken” if they allowed ministers to hold financial interests in companies making money from their Government department’s contracts, the Cabinet minister replied: “I’m not sure I would agree with that.
“Ministers can move around a lot – famously we tend not to spend too long in one particular role.”
