The scramble to buy PPE during the pandemic saw the UK waste almost £10 billion of taxpayers’ money, the official inquiry into the handling of Covid-19 has found.
In the fifth report of her inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett criticised the “vast” waste in pandemic procurement, amounting to £9.9 billion – two-thirds of the £14.9 billion the UK and devolved governments spent on PPE.
And she criticised the controversial “VIP lane”, which prioritised offers of PPE from those with political connections, as a “misguided” and “unfair” process that undermined public confidence in procurement.
But she said there was “no evidence of cronyism or corruption” by ministers or officials when awarding contracts.
Lady Hallett said: “The waste of taxpayers’ money was vast. The public must be able to trust that their money is being spent with propriety, fairness and transparency.
“Public confidence – so important in an emergency – was undermined by failures in procurement.”
In her report, Lady Hallett found the UK was underprepared for the pandemic, with existing stockpiles of PPE “in a perilous state”, with large quantities of expired equipment.
She found only a third of the masks in England’s pre-pandemic stockpile were usable, while Scotland had no supplies of the top-level FFP3 masks needed by healthcare professionals.
The report describes a procurement system working under “immense pressure”, with no effective system for triaging offers of PPE.
That system was “deluged” with offers after Boris Johnson and then-health secretary Matt Hancock issued a “call to arms” for PPE in April 2020.
Officials told the inquiry the call to arms had “made matters worse”, with the procurement system receiving 25,000 offers over 15 weeks, including 300 offers a day at some points.
Against that background, officials established a “high priority” or “VIP” lane that prioritised offers that had been referred by politicians, healthcare leaders and others.
Lady Hallett described the VIP lane as “a misguided attempt at prioritisation that embedded unfairness in emergency procurement” that saw offers from politically-connected individuals more likely to receive a contract than others.
She said contracts awarded through the VIP lane were “more expensive” and had more “contract performance issues” than those awarded through the normal route.
The report found that, of the 32 people who referred successful offers to the VIP lane, 15 had a connection with the Conservative Party and none came from any other party, although politicians from other parties were referred to it.
Lady Hallett said her inquiry had found “no evidence of cronyism or corruption on the part of ministers or officials in the final decision of whether to award or reject a contract”, but noted the system was “inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government”.
She said: “This heightened the risk of abuse. It damaged the reputation of those involved in procurement during the pandemic and undermined public trust in the UK government’s emergency procurement system, in the UK government itself and in its response to the pandemic.
“The High Priority Lane should not be repeated.”
Nicola Brook, a solicitor at law firm Broudie Jackson Canter, which represents the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK campaign group, attacked the inquiry’s findings.
She said: “Today’s report reveals the shocking level of corruption and cronyism at the heart of government, resulting in billions of pounds lost as companies sought to profit while thousands died.
“What is equally shocking is the chair’s failure to call this corruption out after she inexplicably failed to call crucial witnesses involved in some of the most scandalous contracts.”
During the inquiry’s investigation into procurement, Lady Hallett also heard evidence on PPE Medpro, which was ordered to repay £148 million to the Government last year after the High Court found it had breached a contract to supply millions of surgical gowns.
But Tuesday’s report did not include her findings on Medpro due to an ongoing National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into the firm, which is linked to Conservative peer Baroness Michelle Mone via her husband Doug Barrowman.
Both Lady Mone, 54, and Mr Barrowman, 61, deny wrongdoing.
The inquiry has said it will release its findings on Medpro once any criminal proceedings had concluded.
Discussing fraud in procurement more widely, the inquiry found the pace of procurement reduced the amount of time available for due diligence – in some cases to just four hours – and thus increased the risk of fraud.
The inquiry heard that the UK Government estimated £256 million was lost to fraud relating to PPE procurement.
But it also found that the investigation into PPE Medpro is the only criminal process relating to alleged PPE procurement fraud in the whole of the UK.
The NCA probe into Medpro remains ongoing, and in June 2024, the agency said an unnamed 46-year-old man from Barnet, north London, had been arrested as part of the investigation.
No criminal charges have been brought.
Naomi Fulop, a member of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice’s board, urged the NCA to conclude its inquiry swiftly so the public could see “the full extent of the PPE scandal”.
She said: “We demand the full truth and urge the NCA not to allow its investigation to drag on indefinitely.”
In a statement, Lady Hallett also mentioned some “positives” from the pandemic response, saying businesses and the public “rallied enthusiastically to help” and praising the Army’s help in organising “an extraordinary logistical operation”.
She added: “Although the lack of planning caused an unnecessary delay in procuring the PPE and other equipment that healthcare workers and others desperately needed, it was a positive feature of the subsequent procurement response that key healthcare equipment was obtained at the speed and scale the crisis demanded.”
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Today’s report obviously makes for difficult reading, and we’re grateful to Baroness Hallett and her team for their thorough and important work on these issues.
“The pandemic had a profound and lasting impact across our society, and this Government is committed to learning the lessons of the Covid Inquiry so that we are protected and prepared for the future.
“And we will, of course, carefully consider the inquiry’s recommendations in detail, and we will respond in due course.”
