Peer attended a meeting where the healthcare company he is director lobbying government ministers, raising questions about whether this is within the rules of the House.
Investment banker and city financer Jitesh Gadhia is non-executive director at Accord Healthcare. He attended an online meeting with two agreement executives and was already on the company's board of directors, according to official 2021 records.
The email indicates that Accord Healthcare, which sells substantial amounts of medication to the NHS, would like to use the meeting to keep up to date on changes to its official policy. They also wanted to secure millions of pounds in taxpayer grants for manufacturing facilities, helping them design services and procurement contracts, and asking if they could “contribute” to official working groups.
Although there is a grey area in the House rules, they said at the time that peers should not seek to benefit from chamber members by accepting money in return for providing Congressional advice and services. The rules also stated that fellow paying roles were not permitted to “assist outside organisations or people in affecting either the family, minister or official,” and banned the government “to use their position to support others.”
Those who paid the role had a “responsibility to maintain a clear distinction between external interests and council work,” the Code of Conduct said. Later versions of the code enhance these principles.
Campaign Group director Tom Brake said an investigation is needed to unlock democracy and determine whether the House's former deputy leader and attendees at the meeting are within the rules.
He added: “If the code is vague about whether a peer with commercial interests can attend this type of meeting, that should be resolved.”
Gadia's lawyers said they were not paid to provide counsel and services. They said his involvement in the group was ahead of his appointment to Congress, and he “believes that he has always acted in accordance with rules and related guidance.” They said the proposal he was engaged in lobbying was “misunderstood.”
Accord said meetings should be viewed as “an important involvement that serves the public interest” rather than lobbying.
Details of Gadia's activities have been published as part of the Guardian project, Senate debate. This is examining the role of the House and the actions of its members as the government proposes a review of the Senate.
A investment banker for over 20 years, Gadia is currently the non-executive director of the Bank of England's governing body, helping to oversee strategy and budgets. He has served as a string of supervisors for large companies such as Rolls-Royce and Barclays.
He received a pierge from David Cameron in 2016 as part of the former Prime Minister's resignation honor. By then, Cambridge graduates had donated £214,000 to the Conservatives and £25,000 to the Liberal Democrats.
He was an unrelated peer since 2017 after sitting on a conservative bench in his first year in Congress.
Gadia has been non-executive director for Accord Healthcare for seven years. Since 2010 he is an advisor on strategic issues at Intas Pharmaceuticals, an Indian multinational company that owns Ascord.
The document released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that senior agreement executives began a meeting with then-Minister of Health James Bethel in January 2021. The executive requested a meeting via email copied to Gadhia in his House of Lords account.
The day before the February meeting, an Accord Accord executive sent an email to the government to summarise the issues the company wanted to raise.
One was to “explor the appetite of the UK government and explore the resilient national supply chain for plasma fractionation on a pay basis along with us.” The process of separation separates blood plasma into its various components. It can be used to produce medicines. The company was seeking updates on changes to policies that would limit the use of plasma from donors in the UK.
Another was concerned about the demand for £15 million taxpayer money for grants and tax credits to support a manufacturing plant in Newcastle.
In that email, Accord said, “We are happy to support the government's ideas regarding bidding, procurement, or design. Are there any working groups we can contribute?” Bethel later offered to “connect” with the two official task forces.
In response to questions from the Guardian, Accord said the meeting “should not be considered a lobbying activity; rather, it is an important engagement that serves the public interest.” At the time of the meeting, he said he had “not received research and development grants or tax credits,” adding that “Accord has no representatives on the government's task force.”
Gadia's lawyers added that the meeting was “part of the government-industrial dialogue, whose purpose was to discuss government health goals and how to meet the needs of the NHS. The dialogue was following standard departmental procedures for engagement with the life sciences industry.” They added that it was the only ministerial meeting he attended as a non-executive director of consent, and that his attendance was declared in the official transparency register.
Accord said it had tried to work with the Ministry of Health and Social Care to discuss the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for greater resilience in the health supply chain.
