Yorkshire Ambulance Service looking to cut ties with subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom
The emergency service currently has a deal with Gazprom Marketing and Trading Retail Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, the Russian-state backed energy provider, for their gas.
However, they now say they are “reviewing” their supply chain, as businesses and organisations across the UK endeavour to cut ties with Russian-linked firms following the invasion of Ukraine.
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Hide AdYAS is one of four Yorkshire health trusts revealed to have been recent clients of Gazprom, and this week the Government urged all public bodies to “urgently” review such contracts.
The ambulance service said in a statement to The Yorkshire Post yesterday: “Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust currently receives gas supplies under contract with Gazprom
Marketing and Trading Retail Limited, a UK registered company, through a third-party framework agreement.
“We are currently reviewing our supply chains and contractual obligations, with a view to moving gas providers as soon as practicable.”
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Hide AdThe most recent payment of £86,547.46 was settled on February 4 this year, according to invoice data, collected by the firm Tussell.
Elsewhere, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has said it is reviewing its “legal options” in order to “exit” the contract it currently has with the same Gazprom subsidiary, which is currently due to end in March 2023.
Since 2020, the trust has paid more than £450,000 to the firm for gas, with a payment of more than £60,250 settled in November last year, according to figures collated by Tussell, which is a public spending data insight company.
Their Director of Finance Gary Boothby said: “We can confirm that the Trust does currently have a contract with Gazprom to supply our energy via a third party broker. We are reviewing our legal options in order to exit this contract and have submitted details to our regulator for further guidance”.
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Hide AdMeanwhile, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust told this newspaper that it has now ended its contract with Gazprom after the same figures suggested that it has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for gas between 2019 and 2021 to Gazprom Marketing and Trading.
The latest payment was seemingly New Year’s Eve 2021, however, no further information was immediately available.
While Rotherham, Doncaster, and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust had a deal with Gazprom Marketing and Trading to supply gas until the end of this March, with new suppliers taking over yesterday.
It said this was a decision taken when the preceding contract was signed in March 2020, and multiple payments were made as recently as December 3, 2021.
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Hide AdEarlier this week, the Government called for all public bodies to “urgently” review their contracts with Russian and Belarusian firms.
Guidance issued by the Cabinet Office said bodies should “immediately seek” to identify any such contracts, and “if possible switch suppliers”.