DHSC Annual Report & Accounts 2022-23

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 10 Jan 2024 Closed: 29 May 2024 Parliament page
In 2023, the Committee reported that the Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC) had overpaid and overordered £14.9 billion of inventory, which included PPE (£9.9 billion), COVID-19 medicines (£2.6 billion) and COVID-19 vaccines (£1.9 billion). Vast quantities of unusable and unneeded PPE were in storage awaiting disposal by recycling … Read more
4 Recommendations
27 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 6 events
11 Jul
2025
Report published
10 May
2024
Report published
15 Apr
2024
Correspondence
15 Apr
2024
Correspondence
13 Mar
2024
Oral evidence
13 Mar
2024
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
13 Mar 2024
View on parliament.uk
DHSC Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23
Andy Brittain · Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Julian Kelly · NHS England Professor Dame Jenny Harries · UK Health Security Agency Shona Dunn · Home Office Sir Chris Wormald KCB · Department for Health and Social Care
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Thirty-First Report - Department of Health and Social Care 2022–… HC 459 10 May 2024 31 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
4 results
Clear
4 Recommendation Acknowledged
Thirty-First Report - Department o…
Set out by summer 2024, key reasons and actions to reduce clinical patient harm.
We are concerned that the Department is spending £2.6 billion on clinical negligence payments without an effective plan to minimise future costs of the scheme. Incidences of clinical negligence continue to result in significant cost to the taxpayer, particularly in … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and has identified various factors contributing to patient harm. It commits to prioritising continuous patient safety improvement and will write to the Committee later in 2024 to detail the specific actions it is taking with NHS England and partners to reduce harm.
HM Treasury
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6 Conclusion Acknowledged
Thirty-First Report - Department o…
Implement planned changes to control framework to prevent further ineligible payments by summer 2024.
NHS England again made payments to suspended GPs who were not eligible to receive them and has failed to adequately recover these overpayments. NHS England has made overpayments worth £1.3 million to suspended medical practitioners since 2017–18, just £33,000 of … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation, stating that work is already underway to recover overpaid amounts from suspended GPs, and NHS England will oversee this progress. However, it does not detail specific planned changes to its control framework or explicitly confirm adherence to the summer 2024 deadlines.
HM Treasury
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20 Conclusion Acknowledged
Thirty-First Report - Department o…
NHS clinical negligence costs significantly exceed international comparators, lacking litigation trend data.
The Department recognised that each incidence of clinical negligence is a tragedy for an individual and their families.31 They also come with a monetary cost to the taxpayer, in compensation payments for pain suffered and the impact on people’s everyday … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the committee's observations on clinical negligence and patient safety. It commits to prioritising continuous improvement in patient safety and will write to the committee later in 2024 to detail actions being taken with partners to reduce harm and improve outcomes.
HM Treasury
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26 Conclusion Acknowledged
Thirty-First Report - Department o…
£569 million ventilator stockpile to be disposed of, with no NHS purchasing restrictions.
The Department also procured 20,900 individual ventilators at a cost of £569 million, held in stock as “an ICU reserve”. In February 2024 the Department decided to close the reserve and dispose of these ventilators. We asked the Department why … Read more
Government Response
The Department has not yet determined how it will dispose of the stockpile of ventilators, but a hierarchy will be used to ensure sale or donation before disassembly for recycling.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 31 of 4 classified
Accepted 24
Accepted in Part 3
Acknowledged 4
Total 4 recs + 27 conclusions
Correspondence 2 letters
15 Apr 2024 Correspondence from Andy Brittain, Director General Finance, Department of Health and Social Care, re Public Accounts Committee hearing: Department for Health and Social Care’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, dated 27 March 2024
Parliament page
15 Apr 2024 Correspondence from Julian Kelly, Chief Financial Officer, NHS England, re DHSC Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, dated 26 March 2024
Parliament page