Covid-19: “Panic buying” of PPE led to inadequate checks on private companies, say MPs

The Department of Health and Social Care was guilty of “panic buying” personal protective equipment (PPE) during the covid pandemic, with insufficient checks made on private companies it was handing contracts to, a parliamentary select committee has concluded.The Commons Public Accounts Committee made the assertion in its latest report focusing on contracts awarded to the private company PPE Medpro,1 which won two contracts worth £200m shortly after being referred through the government’s “high priority lane” by Michelle Mone, who sits in the House of Lords.The committee has said that two related ongoing investigations “significantly limit” what it can comment on or publish at this stage: a National Crime Agency investigation into PPE Medpro and a House of Lords Commissioners for Standards investigation into Mone’s conduct. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has also launched a civil case against PPE Medpro in relation to a disputed contract.Last December the…
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