PRIVATEERS must be kicked out of public health, campaigners urged today, after a Commons committee report found “no clear evidence” that the outsourced Covid-19 test-and-trace scheme is working.

Despite an expected cost of £37 billion, the programme, run in part by bungling private contractor Serco, has failed to contribute to a reduction in coronavirus infection levels, the Commons public accounts committee (PAC) revealed today.

PAC chairwoman Meg Hillier urged the government to justify the “staggering investment of taxpayers’ money.”

The committee also urged the scheme, fronted by Tory peer Dido Harding, to wean itself off reliance on thousands of expensive consultants and temporary staff, with some receiving £6,624 per day.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson lauded the scheme as the reason behind kids’ return to school as England’s third national lockdown is eased.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier told the BBC that the team behind the programme had done “an amazing job.”

But We Own It campaigns officer Pascale Robinson said the Tories’ approach to test and trace, discarding the knowledge and experience of public health teams and relying on private companies and consultants, had been “a disaster.”

“The private sector has demonstrably failed to deliver an effective test-and-trace system, leaving the public unnecessarily exposed to coronavirus and putting countless lives needlessly at risk,” she said.

Ms Robinson demanded immediate government action to secure a system that will keep people safe. 

“It’s time to kick out the private companies that have made a complete mess of the system and put our local public health teams, NHS and primary care services in charge, so that the national system supports what works and locally based test and trace links up with national best practice and data-sharing,” she said.

Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Rachel Reeves said the PAC report underlines the “epic amounts of waste and incompetence, an over-reliance on management consultants, taxpayers’ cash splashed on crony contracts — all while ministers insist our NHS heroes deserve nothing more than a clap and a pay cut.

“The Conservatives’ wasteful obsession with outsourcing must end and contact tracing should be run by our public health teams,” she said.