Nearly £10 billion of taxpayer's money wasted over Covid PPE procurement
The fifth report from the Covid Inquiry has been released today, all about procurement
The Covid-19 Inquiry has found nearly £10 million of taxpayers money was wasted during the procurement of personal protective equipment, leaving frontline workers unprotected throughout parts of the pandemic.
In today's report Chair of the Inquiry Baroness Hallett found that going into the pandemic, the UK’s stockpile of PPE was in a ‘perilous state’, without enough vital supplies and large quantities of expired equipment.
Baroness Hallett said issues around early PPE were made worse due to the UK’s Government’s being ‘wholly unprepared’ to increase rapidly the scale and speed of emergency procurement and distribution operations.
The report finds that, had proper systems been put in place, there would have been a fairer system with less waste and more trust in the system.
Flaws within the Covid PPE system
The report highlighted several ‘major flaws’ that directly impacted the ability of proper PPE making its way to frontline staff.
These included:
- The pre-pandemic stockpile was not properly managed
- The organisations responsible for emergency procurement and distribution across the UK were not ready for a pandemic
- Healthcare equipment is subject to a complex system of regulation which is poorly suited to emergency conditions.
- The UK relied too heavily on suppliers in China, with the abilities of domestic producers not adequacy considered.
- Public confidence in the system was undermined by a lack of transparency and the so called ‘VIP Lane’ of procurement, which gave favour to suppliers with a connection to the UK Government.
Covid PPE procurement was often a ‘waste’ of taxpayer’s money
Baroness Hallett found that the waste of taxpayer’s money over the procurement of PPE was ‘vast’ and that it ‘significantly’ damaged public trust and undermined hardworking procurement officials.
The ‘High Priority Lane’ also known as the ‘VIP Lane’ was found to be a ‘misguided’ attempt to prioritise procurement of PPE that ‘embedded unfairnesses. It also found some suppliers were favoured over others due to connections within the government which only further erased public trust at the moment it was most needed.
Whilst the report said there was no evidence of corruption, Baroness Hallett warned the ‘High Priority Lane’ should not have been established and must not be repeated.
The inquiry found that, of the £14.9 billion spent on PPE, nearly two-thirds of it, a figure of almost £10 billion, was wasted.
Notably absent from the report was a chapter focusing on the supply firm linked to former Conservative Peer Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, PPE Medpro LTD.
This part of the report cannot be released due to restrictions relating to the current criminal proceedings and can only be released to the public once the Restriction Order has been lifted.
PPE Medpro LTD has been the subject of a National Crime Agency investigation since 2021.
Both Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman deny any wrongdoing.
In October, the High Court ruled that PPE Medpro had to repay the UK Government £122 million plus interest for breaching a contract to supply medical gowns during the pandemic.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Whilst Baroness Hallett concluded there were many failures in the procurement of PPE during the pandemic, she also highlighted the collaboration between the public and private sectors and the ‘vital’ logistical expertise from the The Army.
The report concludes that, if ministers were better equipped with appropriate plans, information and systems, procurement decisions would have been easier, fairer and far less costly.
The report highlighted 11 recommendations which, Baroness Hallett says, should form a blue print for how the UK can better prepare and respond to future pandemics.
The recommendations include:
- Improving transparency, governance and accountability in emergency procurement.
- Improving the management of the pandemic PPE stockpile to reflect the full range of risks.
- Establish a training programme for procurement officials to ensure enough staff can be deployed in an emergency.
- Set specific objectives during a pandemic for international trade and domestic industry to encourage investment in manufacturing of healthcare equipment.
- Radically overhauling supply chain resilience and emergency procurement and distribution systems.
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