Recommendation 18

When granting additional funding to assist with the Department’s COVID-19 pandemic response activity, HM Treasury set conditions to ensure appropriate use of the money, that the Department was required to follow. These were in areas such as: advance payments to secure personal protective equipment; advance funding for community pharmacies; enhanced discharge payments to Clinical Commissioning Groups; and payments to dentists. However, the Department and NHS England spent £1.3 billion of public funds either without HM Treasury consent or which breached the conditions previously set by Treasury.34