MPs on the Public Accounts Committee say there were 'significant failings' by the Department of Health in the handling of contracts that 'put a stain' on the UK's pandemic response.
"Even if you accept that some proper procedure will have to slip in times of crisis, the complete collapse of some of the most well-established civil service practices beggars belief.Of 37.9 billion items of PPE the department bought during the pandemic, costing £13bn, it still has 3.9 billion items in stock that it doesn't need, and it is spending £7m every month to store the equipment - with most of it out of date or faulty.
But the department denied the claim, saying:"It is simply wrong to suggest that the department does not know how much PPE it has, or where it is located. She added:"Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money is now literally going up in smoke as the government's bonfire of useless PPE grows. Unions, including Unite and the GMB, also called for an investigation into the government's handling of procurement and for those PPE suppliers to be held to account.
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