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14th January 2021
10:07am GMT

Photo: Getty[/caption]
Computacenter does have extensive experience in the field, though the people behind the business are alleged to have ties to the Tory Party.
The company's co-founder Sir Philip Hulme has made donations to ex-MP Nick Herbert. Hulme's wife Janet also donated a whopping £100,000 to the Conservatives ahead of the 2019 General Election.
In early December, the Byline Times report states that: "the Government released details of two contracts awarded to Computacenter for the provision of 59,900 devices, worth a total of £12.4 million. These devices were required to be delivered to the Department for Education (DfE) by 13 November".
The current Conservative administration has faced repeated criticism over its alleged nepotism, and the awarding of contracts to those with ties to the Tories.
In an email to JOE, the Department of Education insisted that proper competitive procedures were followed, and that the "decision to contract with the chosen firm was taken following a competition under crown commercial services framework".
Any allegations of favouritism, the department said, were "fundamentally untrue".
Outside of the school laptop debate, this week the government reintroduced food vouchers - after a furious backlash online.
Twitter user @RoadsideMum shared images of the free school meal package she received - with which she is expected to feed her family for 10 days. She estimated the total cost to amount to £5.22 - when it should have amounted to £30 in value.
https://twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1348646428084760576%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.co.uk%2Fpolitics%2Ffree-school-meals-england-wales-261238
The company responsible for these food packages, Chartwells UK, is a subsidiary of the Compass Group. Paul Walsh, who was chairman of Compass Group until last month, is a Conservative Party donor according to data released by the Electoral Commission.
An investigation by the New York Times also uncovered similar in the government's awarding of equipment contracts in the fight against coronavirus.
This report discovered that firms with no prior experience were awarded £4.5 billion worth of Covid-19 contracts.
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