Covid-19: Up to {pound}2.7bn of public money at risk from PPE disputes, says watchdog

Up to £2.7bn of taxpayers’ money is at risk in UK government disputes with contractors over the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the covid-19 pandemic, the parliamentary spending watchdog has warned.1In its latest report, the Commons Public Accounts Committee blasts the government for slowness in progressing the disputes, most of which relate to the quality of PPE provided.It also accuses the Department of Health and Social Care for England of failure to act on fraud in the procurement process. “There is little sign of action against potentially fraudulent suppliers despite the department’s estimate that as much as 5% of PPE expenditure may have involved fraud,” says the report.The committee says that the department is in dispute with PPE suppliers on 176 contracts, with up to £2.7bn of taxpayers’ money at risk. The government has been left with 3.9 billion items of PPE that are unusable or unneeded, it…
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