Government told to ‘get a grip’ over PPE stock as half of suppliers not suitable

A report from the National Audit Office found the Department for Health and Social Care is still dealing with issues over almost 10,000 Covid contracts drawn up to purchase around 38 billion PPE items

Boris Johnson has been accused of creating a “culture of cronyism and waste” as it has emerged billions of taxpayers cash was spent on PPE that couldn’t be used by frontline workers.

The National Audit Office says more than half of suppliers given contracts via the fast-track stream, where firms could be recommended by government officials, ministers’ offices, members of Parliament, senior NHS staff and other health professionals, had provided unsuitable items.

The PPE was deemed unsuitable was because it would take too long to assemble, there were concerns about modern slavery, or paperwork was missing.

A report from the NAO has found the Department for Health and Social Care is still dealing with issues over almost 10,000 Covid contracts drawn up to purchase around 38 billion PPE items; two years into the pandemic.

At least 1.5 billion items in storage have now passed their expiry date and the Government is being charged millions of pounds to store this PPE – far longer than expected.

The Tories have been told to “get a grip” of its PPE stocks.

Labour ’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Unusable masks, gowns, goggles and gloves that our frontline key workers desperately needed during the pandemic are now literally going up in flames, along with billions of taxpayers’ cash spent on it.

“Ministers have a duty to get value and results when spending the public’s money, but Boris Johnson has created a culture of cronyism and waste throughout his Government.”

A DHSC spokesman said: “Our priority throughout the pandemic has been saving lives, and we have delivered over 19.1 billion items of PPE to frontline staff to keep them safe.

Dame Meg Hillier, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee said: “The numbers are staggering – over 30 billion items of PPE received so far with five billion more on the way and 3.6 billion items that can’t be used by frontline services.

“Storage alone has cost over £700 million, with DHSC continuing to spend £7 million a month storing PPE it doesn’t need.”

She added: “Whatever forbearance the taxpayer may have had at the start of the pandemic, this will quickly wear thin if DHSC can’t now manage the consequences.

“The department must urgently get a grip of its PPE stocks and focus on protecting value for taxpayers. It has to claw back contract costs where it can, get rid of unusable PPE, and cut down on expensive storage.”

A DHSC spokesman said: “Our priority throughout the pandemic has been saving lives, and we have delivered over 19.1 billion items of PPE to frontline staff to keep them safe.

“Having too much PPE was preferable to having too little in the face of an unpredictable and dangerous virus, given this was essential to keep our NHS open and protect as many people as possible.

“Where contracts are in dispute, we are seeking to recover costs from suppliers and we expect to recover significant amounts of taxpayers’ money.”