The mother of two children with mental health problems challenged a decision to award a contract to run children’s services in Devon to Richard Branson’s private healthcare company in the High Court this week.

The woman, who has not been named to protect her children’s anonymity, claimed that Devon County Council and the primary care cluster of NHS Devon, Plymouth and Torbay had failed to properly carry out the equality impact assessment required before accepting Virgin Care as preferred bidder for the £132m (€164m; $211m) contract. The law requires public authorities to ensure that their decisions do not have a disproportionately negative effect on …