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<p>I do not recognise the use of the term ‘whistleblower’. The person referred to
in the</p><p>the question was, at the time, a contractor for BDUK who shared commercially
confidential information without knowledge or authority from either BDUK or DCMS.
By doing so they put the information in the public domain and as a result it was shared
with the press.</p><p>The superfast contracts included capped and maximum prices,
as well as clawback mechanisms to ensure that the public sector only paid on the basis
of evidenced and eligible costs, which recovers the benefit of higher-than-forecast
take-up. There is no opportunity for suppliers to ask for more funding if they overspend.
As a result, suppliers such as Openreach reasonably incorporated contingency for higher
build costs or lower take-up in their pricing at bid stage. The contract mechanisms
have been effective in correcting the public subsidy requirement based on actual costs
and take-up, and local authorities have reinvested funding clawed back to date in
further coverage.</p><p>As noted in the October 2020 NAO report into the superfast
programme, DCMS estimates that these mechanisms to safeguard value for money will
return £0.9 billion to the public sector.</p><p> </p>
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