Sajid Javid stands down from £150k AI advisory role

Health secretary Sajid Javid has stood down from a £151,000 advisory role with artificial intelligence company C3.ai upon taking up his new role.

Javid’s most recent register of members’ financial interests to parliament, as at 14 June 2021, show his advisory role with the company began in October 2020 “until further notice”.

A spokesperson from the Cabinet Office confirmed to Digital Health News that Javid is no longer an advisor to the company.

The former chancellor was receiving £151,835 per annum from the company, paid monthly, for 80-96 hours work annually (10-12 days per year), according to the register. It works out to roughly £1,500 per hour.

Javid was paid to advise the company, which provides analytics support to healthcare organisations, on the “global economy, geo-politics and market opportunities”.

C3.ai defines its work in the healthcare sector as helping “payors, providers, and suppliers analyse massive amounts of clinical, claims, pharma trial, EMR, and sensor data to clarify and optimise decisions about how best to care for patients and reduce the overall cost of care”.

It provides a suite of products to help design, build and deploy enterprise-scale AI applications aimed at addressing use cases specific to health.

Javid has also stepped down from an advisory role with JP Morgan which saw him paid £150,000 per year for providing guidance on the “global economy, major industries and geo-politics”.

He was again expected to provide 80-96 hours (10-12 days) work. Combined with his C3.ai role Javid was taking home £301,835 per year for 20-24 days’ work.

He was required to declare the roles under the Ministerial Code, which sets out the process by which ministers should declare and manage potential conflicts of interest.

Javid was appointed as health secretary over the weekend following Matt Hancock’s resignation over an affair with his aide.

Speaking over the weekend Javid said the new position comes with “huge responsibility” and that his “immediate priority” was ending the Covid-19 pandemic.

Javid’s appointment comes at a time when the use of data and technology in the NHS is at a pivotal moment.

Digital Health News has pulled together a list of key digital and data programmes that will be in the new health secretary’s in-tray. You can read more here.