Recommendation 21

There has been considerable public and political interest in the Department’s COVID-19 pandemic procurement including how significant amounts of taxpayers’ money had been spent- especially where products had been sourced from new suppliers including from companies with no previous experience in these types of products. Such procurement- undertaken at pace- increased the risk that the Department entered into 34 C&AG’s Report, paras 16, 17 35 Q126 36 Qq 11–13 37 Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2019–20, 26 January 2021, para 1.35 38 DHSC 2020–21 ARA, page 106 39 Q 12 Department of Health and Social Care 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts 15 contracts where conflicts of interest existed which heightened the importance of the Department’s transparency in respect of how it identified and managed declarations of interests.