Tom Hayhoe has landed the covid counter-fraud job, with an initial focus on reviewing PPE contracts
Rachel Reeves has appointed Tom Hayhoe to the ‘high-profile new role’ of scrutinising contracts that were awarded during the covid-19 pandemic.
Hayhoe will start by reviewing £8.7 billion of personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts that were written off by the Department for Health and Social Care in the 2020/21 financial year.
This included £674 million spent on defective PPE, £2.6 billion for items not suitable for NHS use, £4.7 billion from paying inflated prices and £750 million for “excess” inventory that passed its expiry date.
During her speech at Labour Party Conference in September, Reeves announced that she would be reversing the Conservatives’ decision to waive £674 million of covid contracts in dispute, stating that the government will not “turn a blind eye to rip-off artists”.
In January 2022, the High Court ruled that the Conservative government’s VIP lane to give preferential treatment for PPE contracts to companies like Ayanda and PestFix was unlawful.
Hayhoe has chaired NHS trusts and worked in management consulting. He briefly served as chair of the Jersey government’s Health and Community Services Advisory Board, resigning after three months over “differences in working style” with the health minister Deputy Tom Binet.
He was appointed to the Legal Services Consumer Panel in May.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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