PPE procurement debacle: Why was almost £10bn of taxpayers’ money wasted?: Greg Wright
The Covid-19 pandemic has cast a long shadow. Grief-stricken families still carry deep emotional scars. Many long COVID sufferers face a daily battle against fatigue and “brain fog”. And the colossal scale of the PPE procurement debacle continues to shock us all, more than six years after Britain first went into lockdown.
The scramble to buy PPE during the pandemic saw the UK waste almost £10 billion of taxpayers’ money, according to the official inquiry into the handling of Covid-19. Baroness Heather Hallett criticised the “vast” waste in pandemic procurement, amounting to £9.9 billion – two-thirds of the £14.9 billion the UK and devolved governments spent on PPE. She criticised the controversial “VIP lane”, which prioritised offers of PPE from those with political connections, as a misguided process that undermined public confidence in procurement. She said there was no evidence of cronyism or corruption by ministers or officials when awarding contracts.
The report describes a procurement system working under immense pressure, with no effective system for triaging offers of PPE. Officials told the inquiry the Government’s call to arms for PPE in April 2020 had “made matters worse”, with the procurement system receiving 25,000 offers over 15 weeks, including 300 offers a day at some points. Against that background, officials established a “high priority” or “VIP” lane that prioritised offers that had been referred by politicians, healthcare leaders and others.
Lady Hallett described the VIP lane as “a misguided attempt at prioritisation that embedded unfairness in emergency procurement”. It saw offers from politically-connected individuals more likely to receive a contract than others.
The contents of this report will have probably failed to surprise bosses at Hull-based Arco, which has played a leading role in fighting both SARS and Ebola. In 2020, Arco stood ready to rise to the challenge and provide the Government with stocks of high quality PPE. Arco hoped for an open door. Instead, it encountered unexpected obstacles. Arco, a globally recognised safety company, faced what it described as a “disorientating and frustrating situation” when it tried to help the Government save lives.
Arco raised concerns about PPE supply contracts being awarded “opaquely” to organisations with no experience of PPE manufacture and supply during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2023, Arco produced an “Emerging Diseases White Paper” which urged the Conservative Government to implement change to avoid a repetition of the mistakes made in sourcing PPE.
Arco called on the Government to create a register of approved suppliers for the PPE required for the highest risk environments, to ensure there is a vetted list of suppliers that have the skills to deliver the right products.
Arco also said that the Government should develop a robust PPE stockpile to mitigate supply chain risk. It wisely urged the Government to improve domestic production of PPE and source it at scale. Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham would be well advised to ensure Arco’s white paper isn't allowed to gather dust.
Greg Wright is the deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post