Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Accepted
Develop and implement a clear plan for future pandemic stockpiling within six months.
Conclusion
We are disappointed that the Department lacks adequate controls over its inventory and, four years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, still does not have a plan for stockpiling for future pandemics. The Department does not know how much inventory it currently holds as it did not undertake inventory counting Department of Health and Social Care2022–23 Annual Report and Accounts 7 procedures for its 2022–23 accounts. The Department plans to dispose of COVID-19 inventory that it considers unusable or excess to requirements, including nearly all of its Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stock. The Department procured £13.6 billion of PPE to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, the Department has reduced the value of this (‘written off’) by £9.9 billion, which is over 70% of the price it paid. By accelerating its disposal programme, the Department has saved £130 million in storage costs. However, the absence of stocktakes means it has not verified the volume and condition of stock that it is disposing of. Additionally, the Department has not actioned our previous recommendations – that it should work out what items and quantity of PPE it needs to hold as a stockpile, and to develop and implement a clear, cost-effective plan for such a stockpile – to prepare for future pandemics. This means it risks disposing of items that could form part of the nation’s strategic stockpile for future pandemics. Recommendation 5a): The Department must, within six months, set out the lessons learnt from its COVID-19 procurement processes, including reporting: • the overall losses arising from procuring, storing, and disposing of over- priced, unusable, and excess inventories; and • the outcome of its work on procurement fraud and associated recoveries. b): The Department must, within the next six months, develop, and implement, a clear and cost-effective plan, including adequate controls, for stockpiling items required to plan for a future pandemic. This should not be delayed unt
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to implementing dynamic stockpiling for excess COVID-19 stock from autumn 2024 to reduce costs and improve value-for-money. It will also work with UKHSA to maintain existing medical countermeasure stockpiles and provide an update to the Committee on progress by the end of 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. stock originally procured for the COVID-19 pandemic where possible and appropriate. For a portion of this excess stock, it is possible to implement dynamic stockpiling (where pandemic preparedness stock is rotated into NHS business-as-usual (BAU) stock), and this will begin from autumn 2024. This can reduce re-procurement and disposal costs and represent better value-for-money. All stockpiled product is maintained and managed by Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL), underpinned by an active Service Level Agreement with between SCCL and DHSC which is regularly reviewed and updated. The department will look to implement dynamic stockpiling for any newly procured pandemic preparedness PPE, where BAU usage rates enable this. Beyond PPE, the department continues to work with the UK Health Security Agency and other stakeholders to ensure that existing stockpiles, or other contractual arrangements, for medical countermeasures (including influenza antivirals, antibiotics and vaccines) are maintained to provide resilience to a future respiratory pandemic. The department will write to the new Committee with an update on progress by the end of 2024.