Government wasting millions on PPE that is ‘still not fit for purpose’ 18 months into pandemic

The government is wasting vast amounts of money PPE that is still not fit for purpose a year and a half into the pandemic, an influential committee of MPs has warned.
Official figures show nearly 7 per cent of all items purchased by the health department have failed quality checks while ministers are spending £6.7m every week to keep it stored.
An eye-watering 2.1 billion items have already been found unsuitable for use in medical settings and 10,000 shipping containers are still to be unpacked.
The same committee also warned of significant financial risks for decades to come, with the estimated lifetime cost of all the governments Covid measures reaching £372bn in May 2021.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said too much of the eye-watering sums of cash being spent to combat the pandemic were going to waste.
Labour called for an immediate public inquiry on the findings of the report.
In two separate reports, the committee said that a further 8.4 billion items of PPE on order from other parts of the world have still not arrived in the UK.
And it said the government did not have a credible plan for the excess PPE that was suitable for medical use, with no evidence of a robust plan for repurposing and distributing the stock properly.
Responding to the report, the government said there are robust processes in place to ensure taxpayer money is spent properly. It said less than 1 per cent of PPE it had ordered was unsuitable for any use at all, distinguishing between its suitability for medical use and other uses.
Dame Meg said: The ongoing risk to the taxpayer will run for 20 years on things like arts and culture recovery loans, let alone the other new risks that departments across Government must quickly learn to manage.
The government has promised a public inquiry into the pandemic, but it is not expected to start until spring next year.
The PAC report said it was clear that government cannot wait for the review before learning important lessons and must instead present a Covid recovery plan in the autumn spending review.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the cross-party report was more evidence of Tory failure during the pandemic.
She said their approach had resulted in tens of thousands of avoidable deaths and saw eye-watering sums of taxpayers money wasted on unsafe PPE and contracts handed out to their mates.
1/50UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures
24 July 2021
Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main
PA
UK news in pictures
23 July 2021
Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery’s new free programme of art-inspired activities for families
PA
UK news in pictures
22 July 2021
Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk
PA
UK news in pictures
21 July 2021
A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer
PA
UK news in pictures
20 July 2021
People during morning prayer during Eid ul-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, in Southall Park, Uxbridge, London
PA
UK news in pictures
19 July 2021
Commuters, some not wearing facemasks, at Westminster Underground station, at 08:38 in London after the final legal Coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England
PA
UK news in pictures
18 July 2021
A view of spectators by the 2nd green during day four of The Open at The Royal St George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent
PA
UK news in pictures
17 July 2021
Cyclists ride over the Hammersmith Bridge in London. The bridge was closed last year after cracks in it worsened during a heatwave
Getty
UK news in pictures
16 July 2021
The sun rises behind the Sefton Park Palm House, in Sefton Park, Liverpool
PA
UK news in pictures
15 July 2021
Sir Nicholas Serota watches a short film about sea monsters as he opens a £7.6 million, 360 immersive dome at Devonport’s Market Hall in Plymouth, which is the first of its type to be built in Europe
PA
UK news in pictures
14 July 2021
Heidi Street, playing a gothic character, looks at a brain suspended in glass at the worlds first attraction dedicated to the author of Frankenstein inside the Mary Shelleys House of Frankenstein experience, located in a Georgian terraced house in Bath, as it prepares to open to the public on 19 July
PA
UK news in pictures
13 July 2021
Rehearsals are held in a car park in Glasgow for a parade scene ahead of filming for what is thought to be the new Indiana Jones 5 movie starring Harrison Ford
PA
UK news in pictures
12 July 2021
A local resident puts love hearts and slogans on the plastic that covers offensive graffiti on the vandalised mural of Manchester United striker and England player Marcus Rashford on the wall of a cafe on Copson Street, Withington in Manchester
Getty Images
UK news in pictures
11 July 2021
England’s Bukayo Saka with manager Gareth Southgate after the match
Pool via Reuters
UK news in pictures
10 July 2021
Australias Ashleigh Barty holds the trophy after winning her final Wimbledon match against Czech Republics Karolina Pliskova
Reuters
UK news in pictures
9 July 2021
England 1966 World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst stands on top of a pod on the lastminute.com London Eye wearing a replica 1966 World Cup final kit and looking out towards Wembley Stadium in the north of the capital, where the England football team will play Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday
PA
UK news in pictures
8 July 2021
Karolina Pliskova celebrates after defeating Aryna Sabalenka during the women’s singles semifinals match on day ten of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London
AP
UK news in pictures
7 July 2021
The residents of Towfield Court in Feltham have transformed their estate with England flags for the Euro 2020 tournament
PA
UK news in pictures
6 July 2021
A couple are hit by a wave as they walk along the promenade in Dover, Kent, during strong winds
PA
UK news in pictures
5 July 2021
Alexander Zverev playing against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round of the Gentlemen’s Singles on Court 1 on day seven of Wimbledon at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
PA
UK news in pictures
4 July 2021
Aaron Carty and the Beyoncé Experience perform on stage during UK Black Pride at The Roundhouse in London
Getty for UK Black Pride
UK news in pictures
3 July 2021
Englands Jordan Henderson celebrates after scoring his first international goal, his sides fourth against Ukraine during the Euro 2020 quarter final match at the Olympic stadium in Rome
AP
UK news in pictures
2 July 2021
Dan Evans serves against Sebastian Korda during their mens singles third round match at Wimbledon
Getty
UK news in pictures
1 July 2021
Prince William, left and Prince Harry unveil a statue they commissioned of their mother Princess Diana, on what would have been her 60th birthday, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London
AP
UK news in pictures
30 June 2021
Dancers from the Billingham Festival and Balbir Singh Dance Company, during a preview for the The Two Fridas, UK Summer tour, presented by Billingham International Folklore Festival of World Dance in collaboration with Balbir Singh Dance Company, inspired by the life and times of female artists Frida Kahlo and Amrita Sher-Gil , which opens on July 10 at Ushaw Historic House, Chapel and Gardens in Durham
PA
UK news in pictures
29 June 2021
A boy kicks a soccer ball in front of the balconies and landings adorned with predominantly England flags at the Kirby housing estate in London
AP
UK news in pictures
28 June 2021
Emergency services attend a fire nearby the Elephant & Castle Rail Station in London
Getty
UK news in pictures
27 June 2021
People walk along Regent Street in central London during a #FreedomToDance march organised by Save Our Scene, in protest against the governments perceived disregard for the live music industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic
PA
UK news in pictures
26 June 2021
A pair of marchers in a Trans Pride rally share a smile in Soho
Angela Christofilou/The Independent
UK news in pictures
25 June 2021
Tim Duckworth during the Long Jump in the decathlon during day one of the Muller British Athletics Championships at Manchester Regional Arena
PA
UK news in pictures
24 June 2021
A member of staff poses with the work ‘The Death of Cash’ by XCopy at the ‘CryptOGs: The Pioneers of NFT Art’ auction at Bonhams auction house in London
EPA
UK news in pictures
23 June 2021
Bank of England Chief Cashier Sarah John displays the new 50-pound banknote at Daunt Books in London
Bank of England via Reuters
UK news in pictures
22 June 2021
Actor Isaac Hampstead Wright sits on the newly unveiled Game of Throne’s “Iron Throne” statue, in Leicester Square, in London, Tuesday, June 22, 2021. The statue is the tenth to join the trail and commemorates 10 years since the TV show first aired, as well as in anticipation for HBO’s release of House of the Dragon set to be released in 2022
AP
UK news in pictures
21 June 2021
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon receives her second dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
20 June 2021
Joyce Paton, from Peterhead, on one of the remaining snow patches on Meall aBhuiridh in Glencoe during the Midsummer Ski. The event, organised by the Glencoe Mountain Resort, is held every year on the weekend closest to the Summer Solstice
PA
UK news in pictures
19 June 2021
England appeal LBW during day four of their Womens International Test match against India at the Bristol County Ground
PA
UK news in pictures
18 June 2021
Scotland fans let off flares in Leicester Square after Scotland’s Euro 2020 match against England ended in a 0-0 draw
Getty
UK news in pictures
17 June 2021
Members of the Tootsie Rollers jazz band pose on the third day of the Royal Ascot horse racing meet
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
16 June 2021
A woman and child examine life-size sculptures of a herd of Asian elephants set up by the Elephant Family and The Real Elephant Collective to help educate the public on the elephants and the ways in which humans can better protect the planets biodiversity, in Green Park, central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
15 June 2021
Hydrotherapists with Dixie, a seven-year-old Dachshund who is being treated for back problems common with the breed, in the hydrotherapy pool during a facility at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home’s in Battersea, London, to view their new hydrotherapy centre
PA
UK news in pictures
14 June 2021
Scotland’s David Marshall in the net after Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick scored their second goal at Hampden Park
Reuters
UK news in pictures
13 June 2021
Raheem Sterling celebrates with Harry Kane after scoring Englands first goal of the Euro 2021 tournament in a match against Croatia at Wembley
Reuters
UK news in pictures
12 June 2021
Oxfam campaigners wearing costumes depicting G7 leaders pose for photographers on Swanpool Beach near Falmouth, Cornwall
EPA
UK news in pictures
11 June 2021
Members of the Vaxinol team, who are commercial, industrial and residential cleaners specialising in disinfection and decontamination, use electrostatic spray systems to deep clean the Only Fools Bar in Liverpool
PA
UK news in pictures
10 June 2021
A woman walks her dogs as the incoming tide begins to wash away the heads of G7 leaders drawn in the sand by activists on the beach at Newquay, Cornwall
AP
UK news in pictures
9 June 2021
Adam Chamberlain, 45, general manager of Big Tree pub in Sheffield, has put up over 500 flags, taking 36 hours, in preparation for Euro 2020, which kicks off this weekend
Tom Maddick / SWNS
UK news in pictures
8 June 2021
REUTERS
UK news in pictures
7 June 2021
A pedestrian wearing a face covering walks over Westminster Bridge near the Houses of Parliament in central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
6 June 2021
Isobel Salamon, founder of the Edinburgh Cinema Club, poses alongside the Leith Trainspotting murals in Quality Yard, Leith, Edinburgh, for the programme launch of the Cinescapes Festival which starts on July 4 with a Trainspotting 1 and 2 double bill
PA
UK news in pictures
5 June 2021
A long exposure photograph captures the rotation of the earth as the stars blur into circles over Knowlton church ruins in Dorset
Nick Lucas/SWNS
We cannot wait until next year for the public inquiry to start and ministers cannot kick it into the long grass and cover up their failures by refusing to hand over information hidden in personal email accounts, she added.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: There are robust processes in place to ensure that government spending always provides value for money for the taxpayer.
We have worked tirelessly to source life-saving PPE to protect health and care staff, and we have delivered over 12.7 billion items to the frontline at record speed. As the National Audit Office has recognised, all NHS providers they spoke to were able to get the equipment they needed in time.read more