The financial blackhole generated by unused PPE has been described by Labour as an ‘absolute scandal.’
An additional £6 billion of taxpayers’ money was ‘wasted’ on faulty, unused or over-priced personal protective equipment (PPE) and other inventory, such as tests and drugs in 2021 – 22, taking the total loss to £14.9 billion since the pandemic began.
The figures were revealed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on January 26. Much of the Covid-related equipment bought during 2020 – 21 was faulty or not used before its sell-by date, and £8.9bn was written off.
The annual accounts released this week show that there was a £2.5bn write-down of items procured in 2021 – 22, relating to items the DHSC no longer expects to use or due to falling market prices. A further £3.5bn write-down was made in onerous costs relating to PPE, vaccines and medicines for items the Department had agreed to purchase before March 31, 2022, but which the DHSC does now not expect to use.
The annual accounts also reveal that storage costs were running at around £24m per month. In December 2022, the Good Law Project, campaigners for positive change through the law, revealed that PPE storage costs had hit £1bn and that hundreds of millions of pounds were going to Universe, a ‘VIP’ firm that had also supplied substantial quantities of PPE.
The ‘VIP lane’ saw companies fast-tracked for consideration for lucrative contracts during the pandemic, if they were referred by ministers, MPs and government officials. In January 2022, the government’s controversial use of a VIP lane for awarding PPE contracts was ruled unlawful by the High Court.
An ‘absolute scandal’
The financial blackhole generated by unused PPE has been described by Labour as an ‘absolute scandal.’
Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary, said: “The Conservatives can never again claim to be the careful stewards of the public finances.
“While Rishi Sunak had control of the purse strings, a staggering £15billion of public money was wasted on useless PPE — enough to fund the police force for an entire year.
“Instead, that money is now literally going up in smoke.
“Taxpayers will rightly judge the carelessness with which the Conservatives treat their money to be an absolute scandal.”
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
Picture credit: NIH Image gallery: Creative Commons)
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