UK Inquiry Tracker

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of personal protective equipment

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 22 Oct 2020 Closed: 19 Apr 2021 Parliament page

In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector bodies have had to procure goods and services with extreme urgency. Under emergency laws brought in at the start of the pandemic crisis, the Cabinet Office - which oversees government’s buying policies - has changed some of the procurement rules for contracts … Read more In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector bodies have had to procure goods and services with extreme urgency. Under emergency laws brought in at the start of the pandemic crisis, the Cabinet Office - which oversees government’s buying policies - has changed some of the procurement rules for contracts relating to the government’s response to COVID-19. Concerns have been raised about some of these procurements, including around a lack of transparency. The NAO has now published two major reports, one on the way government has handled procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic , and one specifically on its procurement and contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) , including: - How PPE was supplied to NHS and social care organisations before the COVID-19 pandemic started - What government did, between the pandemic emerging in other countries and arriving in the UK, to prepare for the provision of PPE in the NHS and social care organisations - How government responded when problems arose in the supply of PPE - The scale of problems in the availability of PPE throughout the emergency This inquiry will take evidence on both reports, examining the scale of Government’s COVID-19-related contracting, how procurement rules have changed and how the government is managing the risks associated with these changes. For a chosen sample of these contracts it will look specifically at who bought what, from whom, and at what cost, during the pandemic - and whether this is delivering value for taxpayers money in the crisis. In mid-December the Committee will hold two evidence hearings on the findings across both these reports. In the first hearing, the Committee will question representatives of frontline medical and care associations. In the second hearing, the Committee will question senior officials at the Cabinet Office and Department for Health and Social Care. If you have evidence on the issues raised in this inquiry please submit it here before 6.00pm on Monday 7 December. Show less

1 Recommendation

28 Conclusions

1 Report

2 Oral sessions

4 Letters

2 Events

Activity timeline 10 events

10 Sep
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re PPE Procurement and Supply, dated …

3 Sep
2021

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-second report from Session 2019-21

10 Jun
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Public Accounts Chair Meg Hillier to Sir Chris Wormald KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, …

20 May
2021

Correspondence

Copy letter sent to various PPE Suppliers in connection to the inquiry COVID-19 Government procurement and supply of protective equipment

14 May
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from the Department of Health and Social Care on the Committee's 42nd report of Session 2019-21 - COVID-19 Government Procur…

10 Feb
2021

Report published

Forty-Second Report - COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment

14 Dec
2020

Oral evidence

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment

14 Dec
2020

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment

10 Dec
2020

Oral evidence

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment

10 Dec
2020

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment

Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions

14 Dec 2020

View on parliament.uk

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment

Alex Chisholm · Cabinet Office David Williams · Daily Mail Gareth Rhys Williams · Crown Commercial Service Jonathan Marron · Department for Health and Social Care Michael Brodie · NHS Business Service Authority

10 Dec 2020

View on parliament.uk

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment

Dr Chaand Nagpaul · Council of the British Medical Association Dr Emily McWhirter · Royal College of Nursing Gavin Edwards · UNISON Professor Martin Green · Care England

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Forty-Second Report - COVID-19: Government procurement and suppl…	HC 928	10 Feb 2021	29	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

29 results

2 Conclusion

Forty-Second Report - COVID-19: Go…

While government had plans and a stockpile of PPE, this proved inadequate for the COVID-19...

While government had plans and a stockpile of PPE, this proved inadequate for the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department had a strategy for managing an influenza pandemic, which included a stockpile of PPE owned and managed by Public Health England. In … Read more While government had plans and a stockpile of PPE, this proved inadequate for the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department had a strategy for managing an influenza pandemic, which included a stockpile of PPE owned and managed by Public Health England. In March 2020, NHS England & NHS Improvement gave public assurances to the Health and Social Care Committee that the stockpile would be sufficient to manage the pandemic, but this confidence was misplaced since the stockpile held no more than two-weeks’ worth of most types of PPE. Furthermore, it did not hold all of the planned PPE, such as visors and gowns, and some of the PPE it did hold had expired or did not meet current safety standards. Government and its contractors also struggled to distribute the stockpiled PPE quickly. In response to these problems the Department created a parallel supply chain to buy and distribute PPE. However, because of the time lag between ordering PPE and it being available, this could barely satisfy local organisations’ requirements. Frontline staff in health and social care experienced shortages of PPE, with surveys by staff representative organisations showing that at least 30% of participating care workers, doctors and nurses reported having insufficient PPE, even in high-risk settings. Provider organisations attempted to buy PPE at short notice, in an overheated market, and COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment 7 found they needed to pay hugely inflated prices to suppliers they were unfamiliar with. The PPE from central government was sometimes not usable and providers told us that emergency helplines referred them to suppliers which did not have PPE. Recommendation: The Department must improve its approach to managing and distributing stocks of PPE to ensure the correct equipment gets to those who need it, when they need it. The Department should write to us by July 2021 to confirm that: • Stockpiles hold everything required as specified in the Depa Show less

Government Response

3. PAC conclusion: HM Revenue & Customs breached its Net Cash Requirement by £726 million.

HM Treasury

COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of personal protective equipment

Activity timeline 10 events

Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

While government had plans and a stockpile of PPE, this proved inadequate for the COVID-19...

The high-priority lane was not designed well enough to be a wholly effective way of...

The Department’s focus on supporting hospitals meant assistance to social care providers was neglected.

The Department does not know enough about the experience of frontline staff, particularly BAME staff.

We are concerned that the Department’s ordering of an enormous amount of PPE might compromise...

The Department has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on PPE which is of poor...

It should also update us on the number of contracts (and their financial value) in...

On the basis of two reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

Access to the high-priority lane was based on recommendations coming from government officials, ministers’ offices,...

The British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing told us that their organisations...

Between February and July 2020, the Department ordered 32 billion items of PPE.

Government’s PPE strategy aims to build a UK manufacturing base so that there is a...

The Department asserted that while it had deliberately secured a significant stockpile of PPE, it...

Not all of the PPE the Department bought can be used.

The Department had not calculated the value of unusable or potentially unsuitable items but told...

The Department accepted that the urgent need for PPE meant it accepted greater risks when...

Government had a Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Programme and a stockpile of PPE for managing an...

In March 2020, officials from NHS England & NHS Improvement publicly assured the Health and...

The Department told us that it had not been complacent over the stockpiles, but that...

Almost all the PPE was manufactured abroad and had to be shipped, flown or put...

The Department explained that its formal reporting arrangements did not identify any provider organisation, in...

We have previously noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the tragic impact of delaying...

Care England and the British Medical Association told us that the contingency planning process for...

Witnesses from organisations representing staff working in health and social care told us that providers...

Staff representative organisations ran surveys in which frontline staff reported not having the PPE they...

We asked about the experience of BAME staff and whether this had been different to...

By October 2020, employers had reported 8,152 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 and 126 deaths as...

Witnesses representing the health and social care sectors raised a number of concerns about the...

By the end of June, 44 Transport for London workers had lost their lives to...

Correspondence 4 letters