MPs accuse spads of 'running shop' in Covid funding decisions | Civil service
She later added: âIt took a, I admit, unusual form but not an inappropriate one.â She said that whenever officials drew up advice, spads regularly contributed their views too. Given the department had been working âat paceâ to quickly support charities people were relying on at the start of the pandemic, it âbrought those two processes togetherâ. Healey insisted that the final advice offered to ministers came from civil servants. But the chair of the committee, the Labour MP Meg Hillier, told her: âThey can only deal with the advice that theyâve been gi...