Waste Watch
Tracking flagged government spending across donor-contractor overlaps, fast-tracked pandemic contracts, missing-supplier awards, and non-competitive procurement. These are measurable indicators of potential waste — not definitive proof.
Sum of donor-contractor overlaps, COVID/PPE contracts, missing-supplier awards, and direct-award contracts. Figures may overlap across categories. Based on public data from Contracts Finder and parliamentary registers.
🔀 💰 Donor-Contractor Overlaps
0 entriesMPs who received donations from companies that later won government contracts
No overlaps detected
This may improve as more donor names are matched to supplier names.
⚠️ 🦠 Pandemic / PPE Contracts
3 entriesFast-tracked contracts awarded during COVID-19 with reduced oversight
🔍 ❓ Missing / Unnamed Suppliers
12 entriesContracts where supplier is missing, blank, or listed as "Not Applicable"
📋 🎯 Direct Award / Non-Competitive
0 entriesContracts awarded without competitive tender — single bidder or direct negotiation
No direct-award contracts tagged
Procurement type metadata is not available for most contracts in this dataset.
📊 🏢 Top Government Suppliers
10 entriesLargest recipients of government contracts by total value. Note: large framework contracts may list full ceiling values against each supplier — individual awards are typically smaller.
📖 Methodology
Donor-Contractor Overlaps: Cross-references MP financial interest registers against government contract suppliers. An overlap is flagged when an MP declared a donation from a company whose name appears in the supplier field of a government contract. The total shown is the sum of all overlapping contract values.
Pandemic / PPE Contracts: Contracts awarded between January 2020 and June 2023 whose title or description contains keywords: COVID, coronavirus, PPE, personal protective equipment, or pandemic. These were often awarded under emergency procurement rules with reduced scrutiny. Later contracts are excluded even if they mention PPE.
Missing / Unnamed Suppliers: Contracts where the supplier field is null, empty, or marked “Not Applicable.” Transparency requires knowing who received public money.
Direct Awards: Contracts tagged with non-competitive procurement types in metadata (direct award, single tender, non-competitive). Limited coverage — most contracts lack this metadata.
All data sourced from Contracts Finder, UK Parliament Members' API, and Electoral Commission donation registers. Figures may overlap across categories. This is an accountability tool, not a forensic audit. Flag a specific contract for review using the report form.
🔗 External Watchdogs & References
Parliament's independent spending watchdog. Publishes value-for-money reports on government departments and projects.
Anti-corruption charity. Published major research on COVID procurement failures and billions in wasted public money.
Tracks £131B+ in scandalous government spending since the last election. Detailed breakdown by category.
Independent non-profit exposing government spending inefficiencies. Categorises procurement waste and publishes regular reports.
May 2026: Spending committee finds MoD most wasteful; cancelled schemes including Rwanda and Stonehenge.
Investigative reporting on decades of MOD procurement failures, from aircraft carriers to cancelled programmes.
📰 In the News(7 recent articles)
Watchdog slams £6.6bn government waste from cancellations and fraud MSN
HS2 Delayed Costs Surge to £102.7bn, Completion Pushed to 2040s Nomad Lawyer
Higher costs and lower speeds in latest HS2 update Construction News
HS2 cost warning raises wider concerns over UK infrastructure delivery BCIS
Transport Secretary announces new delivery timeframes and costs for HS2 Rail Business Daily
HS2 could cost up to £102.7bn and trains will be slower than first planned BBC
HS2 failings blamed on high-speed focus and political pressure BBC