Reform
are a free market think tank who promote privatisation of public services. They
have charitable status despite being heavily linked to the Conservative party,
which is denied by the Charity Commission who recently chose to refuse to
investigate the connections and denied they existed.
Social Investigations is producing a series of
articles which looks at the corporations who fund Reform through a corporate
partnership that exists because according to Reform:
'We are keen
to involve corporate organisations in our research because their expertise is
often left out of the Whitehall
policy discussion.’
Dictionary
definition of a charity: ‘An organisation set up to
provide help and raise money for those in need’.
Does Bupa
need an extra voice?
Bupa are well connected. Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone the former Conservative
Health Secretary also known as Virginia Bottomley is a Director of BUPA. This position
did nothing to prevent the Baroness from debating and voting on the bill,
influencing its outcome and helping it become an Act. When the Health and
Social Care bill was introduced to the House of Lords, Baroness Bottomley said:
‘'I give this Bill an
unequivocal and extraordinarily warm welcome.'
Labour Peer, Lord Leitch is the Chairman of Bupa. When
speaking on the Health bill in 2008, Mr Leitch said: ‘When we debate healthcare in the UK, all too
often the focus is on the NHS alone. Yet the independent sector is more
important than ever, providing services directly to patients, residents,
insurers, and to the NHS itself. Going forward, all of us must think in terms
of partnership, not rivalry.’
Other parliamentarian connections to Bupa are Conservative peer, Lord Edmiston, who has shares, Conservative peer, Lord Hamilton of Epsom, who has a directorship with MSB Ltd (managing consultancy), who have Bupa as a client and who had a complaint against him this year upheld. Labour Peer, Baronness Liddell, who is an associate member of Bupa, Lord Jones of Birmingham, who is an unpaid associate. Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP, received £4,512.76 from Bupa for a 'fact finding visit'. Accepted 27/03/2009. Mark Simmonds is an advisor to Circle health and promotes the privatisation of hospitals.
Other parliamentarian connections to Bupa are Conservative peer, Lord Edmiston, who has shares, Conservative peer, Lord Hamilton of Epsom, who has a directorship with MSB Ltd (managing consultancy), who have Bupa as a client and who had a complaint against him this year upheld. Labour Peer, Baronness Liddell, who is an associate member of Bupa, Lord Jones of Birmingham, who is an unpaid associate. Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP, received £4,512.76 from Bupa for a 'fact finding visit'. Accepted 27/03/2009. Mark Simmonds is an advisor to Circle health and promotes the privatisation of hospitals.
Bupa left out of Whitehall discussion?
Bupa
have met with Ed Davey to discuss employment relations in April 2011, in the
same month they had a meeting with Chris Grayling to discuss ‘Get Britain Working’.
In July 2011, they met with Stephen Green to discuss trade and investment.
In
April 2005, Bupa gave written
evidence on Telecare. In February 2006,
More written
evidence was provided on treatment centres in which Bupa was involved. In December 2008, they provided written
evidence to the Health Committee on Top Up Fees.’ In October 2011, Bupa
provided written
evidence to the Health Committee, as well they might.
In
addition, Bupa benefit from Reform’s ability to bring together key politicians,
aided no doubt by the fact that Reform’s trustees have in the past donated to
the Conservative party and the founders are also linked to the party. See more
on that here.
In May 2012, Bupa sat on a panel at a Reform Healthcare conference, which was
attended by Andrew Lansley, and a further panel meeting in June with NHS
Confederation Chief Executive, Mike farrar.
Bupa
have multiple links to power, revenues last year rose to £3.9bn, they have
support from Reform, who connect them to politicians through conferences and
panel discussions. Reform consistently promote a move to further heath
insurance with deputy director of Reform, Nick Seddon, calling
for an out and out health insurance system. The problem is not that the government seek
the advice of Bupa’s expertise, but that Reform claim they are not involved in Whitehall
policy discussion. This is a lie.
For
more on this subject and Reform:
BUPA are very good at passing their members to the NHS and saving themselves a fortune. I would be interested in contact with like minded people that might wish to see such an organization exposed.
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