The chairman of the health select committee lobbied the head of the NHS on behalf of a firm paying him £1,600 a month, it has been reported.
At the height of the Covid pandemic, former health minister Steve Brine said he had been “trying for months” to persuade the NHS to hire anaesthetists through Remedium, a recruitment company he worked for, leaked messages show.
Mr Brine allegedly contacted Michael Gove, then Cabinet Office minister, after receiving no response from Simon Stevens, who was chief executive of NHS England, as well as the Department of Health, suggesting they use the company.
The approaches have been published by The DailyTelegraph from Matt Hancock’s leaked WhatsApp messages.
The first message, which Mr Gove forwarded to then-health secretary Matt Hancock on 2 February 2021, said: “Sorry to raise this but having tried the Dept of Health (seemed logical) and the Chief Exec of NHSE (ditto) I am at a loss.
“Long story short, I have been trying for months to help the NHS through a company I am connected with – called “Remedium”. They have 50 anaesthetists right now who can be in the country and on the ground in the NHS if someone only said let’s us help.
“They just want to assist and asked me how they might.
“Despite offering this to health and to Simon Stevens I’ve had nothing despite SS telling the press conference last week this is an acute problem, despite the PM telling the Liaison Committee this is his biggest problem etc etc.
“How might I progress this or does the NHS just not need the help? S.”
Mr Hancock replied that the matter was “already in hand”.
Last year, Mr Brine denied that earlier in the pandemic, he had lobbied Mr Hancock to use Remedium to hire staff for Nightingale Hospitals – temporary facilities set up to treat Covid patients.
At the time, in March 2020, he was working as an ad-hoc consultant for the firm, at a rate of £800 per day.
Mr Brine denied lobbying and denied any wrongdoing, saying he had merely passed on a letter to the then health secretary.
However, in July 2020, Remedium began paying him £1,600 for eight hours’ work each month – an arrangement that continued until the end of December 2021, The Telegraph says.
In November last year he was elected chairman of the health and social care select committee.
The message could mean Mr Brine has breached two different lobbying rules.
Under the first, former ministers are banned from using contacts from their time in government to lobby for two years after they return to the backbenches.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, the lobbying watchdog for former ministers, told Mr Brine when he asked that for two years after leaving office in March 2019, he should not “become personally involved in lobbying the UK government/NHS organisations on behalf of Remedium” or use “government and/or Whitehall contacts…to secure business on behalf of Remedium Partners”.
Under the second rule, MPs may not lobby for an organisation from which they are receiving “a reward” for six months after receiving a payment.
Separate messages between Mr Hancock and his team show that Mr Brine’s request was passed to NHS England via Allan Nixon, the health secretary’s special adviser:
“I told him team were sorting it and he hasn’t come back to me about it since,” Mr Nixon said.
Mr Hancock wrote: “Since he didn’t even ask me, it’s a bit weird.”
The next day, Mr Nixon suggested that the NHS had been in contact with David Green, the chief executive of Remedium.
Three days later he said NHS England was sending “chasers” to Remedium.
Mr Brine told The Telegraph: "This was about responding in the national interest to an urgent public call from ministers and the NHS in a national crisis even if, ultimately, it led nowhere, let alone secure any business for Remedium.”
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards can recommend sanctions, including suspension from the Commons for a fixed period, for any MPs it finds have breached rules.
The Independent has approached Mr Brine for further comment.
