Former minister linked to Wessex computers affair: Secret document says Lord Jenkin lobbied for contract on which millions were lost. Tim Kelsey reports

LORD JENKIN, a Tory former cabinet minister, lobbied for the award of a computer contract on which millions of pounds were wasted.

His role is revealed in a secret report by the district auditor disclosing serious mismanagement in Wessex Regional Health Authority. A total of pounds 63m of public funds may have been wasted as a result of the authority's errors.

This is the second confidential report by the district auditor discovered during an investigation by the Independent and Computer Weekly into the largest financial scandal in the recent history of the health service.

It reveals that in 1986 Patrick Jenkin, then a Tory MP and a former Secretary of State for Social Services, acted as a business adviser to the consultants Arthur Andersen & Co; his involvement was declared in the Register of MPs Interests.

The auditor's report says he lobbied on Andersen's behalf for the award of a pounds 26m contract to implement the first phase of the authority's Regional Information Systems Plan (RISP) project. His intervention was part of an intensive campaign by Andersen to win the contract. The district auditor commented: 'I find the background to the chain of events leading up to the award of the contract disturbing.'

While Secretary of State, he appointed the chairman of Wessex, Sir Bryan Thwaites, who held the post from 1982 to 1988 and was responsible for the management at the time Andersen was lobbying for the first RISP contract.

The district auditor reveals that intense pressure was put on the authority by IBM and Lord Jenkin to accept the bid made by Andersen in partnership with IBM. Tenders were first invited in 1983. The following year, computer managers at Wessex decided in favour of a tender by DEC. The Andersen/IBM bid came fourth on the preferred list, but was awarded the contract.

Last week the Independent revealed the existence of the first Wessex report, highlighting the role played by Sir Robin Buchanan, chairman of Wessex after 1988. Virginia Bottomley, the Secretary of State for Health, has known about both documents for nearly a year but has not disclosed their existence or taken any action. Sir Robin, who is still chairman of the health authority, is also chairman of the NHS Supplies Authority, a key component of the Government's health service changes.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Commons public spending watchdog, decided last night to wait for a further report from Sir John Bourn, the Comptroller and Auditor-General, before questioning Wessex officials.

Wessex admitted last year that at least pounds 20m had been wasted on its RISP scheme to integrate all computer services and to privatise their management. The project was mismanaged, and the authority paid for staff and services it did not need and sometimes did not get.

That admission coincided with the publication of a short report by the district auditor which omitted reference to most of the revelations in the two secret documents. Both of these have been forwarded to the police. Hampshire fraud squad confirmed last week that inquiries had been launched but would not detail their precise scope.

The latest report to come to light, which was distributed to a small number of Wessex board members and the Department of Health, considers events at the authority before the arrival of Sir Robin five years ago.

The PAC, inquiring into financial mismanagement in health authorities, was told last night that Sir James Ackers, who resigned last month from his pounds 20,925-a-year job as chairman of the West Midlands regional health authority after multi-million pound losses, has negotiated a severance payment from the Department of Health. Sir James, 57, declined to reveal the amount.

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