Gillian Keegan has questions to answer over a £1million schools IT contract given to a firm her husband is a director of, Labour said last night.
A Mirror investigation found the deal with Centerprise was paid for from the same pot of cash earmarked to rebuild classrooms at risk of collapse because they contain potentially deadly concrete. Michael Keegan is a non-executive director of the company which was given the contract in May.
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Yet again this week, the Education Secretary has serious questions to answer about her conduct. This appears to be a conflict of interest and eyebrows will be raised that the Keegans appear to have gained from a shrinking pot of school rebuilding money.
“Gillian Keegan must come clean about any involvement she might have had in the award of this contract from which she and her family stood to benefit financially.” Mr Keegan has served on the Centerprise board as a non-executive director since November 2018. A year kater he joined the Cabinet Office as a Crown Representative.
His Linkedin page says he is “responsible for cross-government relationship with a strategic supplier working with the MoD and other Government departments.” We understand this is arms firm BAE Systems. The page adds: “Crown Representatives play no role in contract award or government procurement.” It is not known how much he is paid for this role.
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Gillian Keegan with her husband MichaelThere is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr and Mrs Keegan. The Department for Education said: “Ministers had no involvement in the procurement process for these contracts, which were awarded in line with existing government commercial procedures.” But the comes in a bad week for the Education Secretary after more than 150 schools remained totally or partially shut as the holidays end due to buildings containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, a more lightweight substance.
And on Monday she unleashed a foul-mouth tirade on camera in which she accused others of "sitting on their a**es" while the crisis unfolded and insisted she had done a "f*****g good job". Rishi Sunak is also under fire after a former civil servant claimed as Chancellor he slashed Schools Rebuilding Programme, funds cutting the number from 100 to 50 a year.
The deal with Centerprise was to “deploy servers including migration of data and systems” for the latest rounds of the SRP funding. The firm’s Director of Marketing and Opportunity Management Mike Thomas said: “We and the Cabinet Office are mindful of any potential conflicts of interest and steps have been put into place to ensure that his non-executive board advisory role does not conflict with our day-to-day business.
“All contracts with the Department for Education were competed for through the relevant Crown Commercial frameworks. Mr Keegan had no involvement in any of the bids.” The Mirror found Centerprise has been awarded 77 contracts worth £68.6million since September 2019, many of them with the MoD.
In the previous four years, the firm won 133 deals worth £33.1million. The latest accounts of Centerprise International reveal its sales were up 16% to £121million last year, in part thanks to its “continuing success in private sector” work. The company coughed up £1.5million in dividends and paid its board of directors more than £1million an increase of 24% from the previous year.
It is not known how much of this was paid to Mr Keegan. Non-executive directors have a key role in the governance and reputation of firms, including managing conflicts of interest, and are involved in the appointment and remuneration of executives. Mr and Mrs Keegan bought a house in Petworth, West Sussex, for £1,075,000 in 2010 which is now valued at £2.4million. They also have a flat in Kensington, West London, and homes in France and Spain.
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