Jeremy Hunt has said that it is “completely normal” for a contractor to fail to deliver on a major project as questions continued about the inability of G4S to provide security officials for the Olympic Games.
The Culture Secretary, who is in charge of the Olympics, refused to criticise the firm, saying it had acted “honourably” by raising with the Government the problems it was experiencing.
He was speaking after it emerged that the Home Office was warned about potential problems with G4S as long as 10 months ago.
Last week, just a fortnight from the start of the Games, the Ministry of Defence was forced to draft in extra 3,500 military personnel to cover for the missing officials.
The Independent on Sunday reported that a secret report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary was presented to ministers in September 2011 warning about the firm’s ability to provide security for the Games.
The Home Office said that the issues raised in the HMIC report were resolved, but it emerged that Locog, the Games’ organiser, had subsequently asked G4S to provide an extra 8,400 security guards on top of the 2,000 it had been contracted for.