In a report printed this week, the general public accounts committee has recognized “important failings” within the administration of PPE contracts that would result in a £2.7 billion invoice for taxpayers.
The division of well being and social care (DHSC) stays in dispute with many suppliers it entered into contracts with over the standard of the PPE supplied and accepts that some surplus inventory will find yourself being incinerated.
MPs say there may be little signal of the federal government taking motion in opposition to doubtlessly fraudulent suppliers regardless of DHSC’s estimate that as a lot as 5 per cent of PPE expenditure might have concerned fraud.
The committee concludes that “suppliers and intermediaries are prone to have made extreme income whereas offering substandard PPE”.
Featured
Guarantee GMC requirements mirror realities of medical observe, MDU urges
Featured
Nurse practitioners face a number of investigations into single incident
They are saying inadequate due diligence checks previous to many contract agreements have left the DHSC “paralysed” from appearing in some circumstances. Disputes with suppliers on 176 PPE contracts value as much as £2.7 billion are nonetheless to be settled.
The DHSC spent greater than £13 billion sourcing PPE in the course of the pandemic however has since did not arrange a system to catalogue tools, presently unfold throughout 70 places within the UK in addition to in China.
MPs warn that the federal government can not assume {that a} speedy procurement on this scale is not going to be required once more and urge extra sturdy and clear practices to be put in place.
PAC chair Dame Meg Hillier MP mentioned upon the report’s publication: “The departure from regular approaches to due diligence, report retaining, resolution making and accountability in relation to PPE contracts places a stain on the UK’s response to the pandemic.
“Even for those who settle for that some correct process must slip in instances of disaster, the whole collapse of a few of the most well-established civil service practices beggars perception. The taxpayer will probably be paying for these choices for years to come back.”
A Division of Well being and Social Care spokesperson instructed Politics.co.uk: “Our precedence all through the pandemic has been saving lives. Regardless of huge inflation in costs and unprecedented world demand, we delivered over 21.4 billion gadgets of PPE to frontline employees to maintain them secure, with solely 3 per cent of the PPE we procured unusable in any context.
“It’s merely incorrect to recommend that the division doesn’t understand how a lot PPE it has, or the place it’s positioned. We’ve a complete knowledge system in place to permit us to supervise the storage community and eliminate any extra inventory.
“The division additionally takes fraud extraordinarily severely and is exploring each obtainable possibility – together with working with legislation enforcement companions – to convey those that commit fraud to account and search to recuperate losses.”
