Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Most of the PPE was bought at speed early in the pandemic.
Conclusion
Most of the PPE was bought at speed early in the pandemic. This was at a time when there was a surge in demand in other countries, and at the same time as a temporary decline in global supply as factories temporarily shut to help reduce COVID-19 infections. This resulted in an extremely overheated global market; a ‘sellers’ market’, with customers competing against each other, pushing up prices, and buying huge volumes of PPE often from suppliers that were new to the PPE market. In order to meet the urgent demand, the Department adapted its normal procurement and inventory management controls. This has contributed to a significant loss of value to the taxpayer and left the Department open to the risk of fraud.23
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
3: PAC conclusion: There is no clear plan for how big the PPE stockpile needs to be and how the Department will build greater resilience into the NHS supply chain so that it can respond at pace to future urgent needs. 3: PAC recommendation: The Department should develop a clear plan to increase the resilience of the NHS supply chain to be able to respond at speed if there is another pandemic or variant of concern and needs to explain in detail to the Committee how it intends to work out what items and how much PPE it needs to hold as a national stockpile going forward. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2023 3.2 The department is undertaking a fundamental review of the clinical countermeasures, including PPE, that need to be readily accessible in event of a future pandemic or emerging infectious disease. This review factors in lessons learnt from COVID-19 pandemic, the updated analysis of risks undertaken for the next iteration of the National Risk Register and the department’s new approach to pandemic preparedness. 3.3 Informed by expert advice and modelling, the department is working closely with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS Supply Chain on the product mix and amounts