Ministers were not told of investment by Chinese company accused of US security threat However, the committee has found that Patricia Hewitt, the then Labour trade and industry secretary, was not informed about the BT deal until after it had been signed. The contract was instead signed off by officials in the department. The report will also recommend that Chinese companies should be independently tested by the Government to guard against cyber attacks. It will recommend that Huawei's facility in Banbury, Oxfordshire, which tests the security of all equipment to be used in Britain, should be run by Government security services. Huawei has said it has no links to the Chinese Communist Party. It has rejected suggestions that its equipment could be used to spy or disable communications.