Global Markets
Home›Global Markets›Europe›Covid inquiry finds UK wasted nearly £10bn on PPE proc…
Covid inquiry finds UK wasted nearly £10bn on PPE procurement
The report said the UK and devolved governments spent £14.9bn on PPE, with £9.9bn going to unused or out-of-date stock, including £42bn when home testing and other equipment were counted.
The UK Covid inquiry said the lives of NHS staff and patients were put at risk during the pandemic by inadequate PPE supplies and a procurement effort that left much of the stock unused or unusable.
According to BBC Business, the inquiry chair Baroness Hallett described nearly £10bn of taxpayer spending as “vast” waste in pandemic procurement, totaling £9.9bn, or two-thirds of the £14.9bn the UK and devolved governments spent on PPE. The report also said the UK entered the pandemic with its PPE stockpile in a “perilous state” and was “simply not ready” to secure new supplies quickly.
The inquiry criticized a “VIP lane” that prioritized PPE offers from those with political connections, calling it “misguided” and one that undermined public confidence. It said there was no evidence of cronyism or corruption by ministers or other officials in awarding final contracts, while also finding major planning failures left care homes, GP surgeries, and pharmacies expected to source their own PPE.
BBC Business reported that including home testing kits and other equipment, spending between January 2020 and June 2022 exceeded £42bn. It added that the emergency PPE stockpile meant to last at least 15 weeks was running out by end-March 2020, with only a third of England’s masks usable, Scotland having no supplies of high-grade respiratory masks used in hospitals, and additional write-offs tied to programs such as ventilators.