Urgent Probe Needed on Council’s £170K ‘Friends and Family’ Contract With Start-Up, Says Lib Dems

It has emerged that James Euseden – son of Neil Euseden, the authority’s Director of Housing – worked for the fledgling firm as Chief Operating Officer.

In 2021, Lambeth awarded the company a contract to deliver a digital assistant technology pilot to improve the council’s customer service. Under the trial scheme, a chatbot would handle queries from residents in Herne Hill and Oval wards.

However, council documents divulged to MyLondon show the Labour-controlled council waived its regular procurement procedures to award AskPorter the contract based on “technicality” and because the firm had “the expertise and internal skill-set” for the project.

Councillor Donna Harris, Leader of the Lambeth Lib Dem Council Group, has written to Bayo Donsumu, CEO of Lambeth Council and Councillor Claire Holland, Leader of Lambeth Council, to demand that they:

• ommission a full independent investigation into the council’s decision to award the contract to AskPorter, despite Neil Euseden and the firm declaring a conflict of interest.
• Conduct a review of the council’s processes for declarations of interest to ascertain whether it is robust and fit for purpose.
• Provide an assessment of AskPorter’s performance against the value of the contract.
• Answer why the council paid an extra £70,000 on top of the original £100,000contract to AskPorter’s parent company, Ask Products Ltd.

Commenting Cllr Donna Harris, Leader of the Lib Dem Council Group, said:

“We need the arrangements for what looks badly like a friends and family deal to be held urgently up to the light.

“It isn’t at all clear why this contract was awarded without the proper procedures in place, or whether the system Lambeth Council bought into has benefited a single resident.

“If there is nothing to hide, then senior councillors will have no problem

commissioning a swift, independent inquiry to establish what went on.

“That is the minimum residents – who entrust their hard-earned cash to the council – can expect in the circumstances.”