Recommendation 9

We asked the Department what plans it had for disposal of the £4 billion of PPE that it has identified cannot be used in the NHS. The Department told us that it had approached 75 different countries to see if they could use any of the unusable PPE. This has led to ongoing discussions with 11 countries and the Department has made some minimal donations of PPE so far.15 In respect of disposal options, the Department confirmed that it had a pilot of re-purposing face visors as food trays, and aprons into bin bags.16 The 7 C&AG’s Report, para 8 8 Qq 19, 22, 23 9 Q 24 10 Q 52 11 C&AG’s Report, para 8 12 DHSC 2020–21 ARA, page 191 13 Q 69 14 Q 90 15 Qq 46, 49 16 Qq 40–42 Department of Health and Social Care 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts 11 Department informed us that it intends to appoint two waste partners, with the aim of disposing of 15,000 pallets a month.17 The disposal will be via combination of recycling, and burning the items which will also generate power. In the meantime, the Department is still spending £3.5m a week in storing PPE.18 PPE Procurement and contracting capability