Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Accepted
Department lacks adequate controls over PPE inventory, unable to perform comprehensive stocktakes.
Conclusion
In 2023, we found that the Department did not have adequate controls over its PPE inventory and was unable to perform proper stocktakes to confirm what it held and the condition of these items. The Department did not perform full and complete stock counts on the PPE inventory it held at 31 March 2023, stating that a full stock-count would cost £70 million. We questioned the Department on how it could know which equipment was usable, what could be given away, and what could be sold, if a stock take has not been undertaken. The Department asserted that it knew what PPE inventory it had and where it is, although it admitted that it did not have access to some items held in warehouses and stacked in containers. In our report on the Department’s 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts, we recommended that the Department should set out how it would ensure that adequate inventory controls were put in place over its PPE and report to us on its progress, which the Department has failed to implement. The Department accepted our recommendation and in its response to our report, it told us that as part of its strategy 39 The Royal College of Midwives, The contribution of continuity of midwifery care to high quality maternity care, Professor Jane Sandall CBE, RCM09150, October 2017, page 6; National Maternity Review, Better Births: Improving outcomes of maternity services in England, A Five Year Forward View for maternity care, 22 February 2016, page 9. 40 Qq 112, 114 41 Letter from Julian Kelly, Chief Finance Officer, NHS England, to Dame Meg Hillier, Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, Re: Public Accounts Committee: DHSC Annual Report and Accounts 2022–23, 26 March 2024 42 Committee of Public Accounts, Sixty-Second Report of Session 2022–23, Department of Health and Social Care 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts, HC 997, 5 July 2023, para 1 43 C&AG’s Report, Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2022–23, HC 33, 25 January 2024, pages 223–224 Department of
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's findings, has replenished pandemic preparedness PPE stockpiles using excess stock, and will begin dynamic stockpiling from autumn 2024, committing to update the committee by the end of 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5.9 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2025 5.10 The department has replenished pandemic preparedness PPE stockpiles using excess 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. 5.11 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. 5.12 The department will write to the new Committee with an update on progress by the end of 2024.