Ministers have been accused of throwing away taxpayers’ money “as if it were confetti” after official figures revealed that the government wasted nearly £10bn on defective or unusable personal protective equipment during the Covid crisis.
Annual accounts for the Department of Health and Social Care published on Thursday show that nearly three-quarters of the money it spent on PPE during the pandemic has been written off.
The figures show £9.9bn of the £13.6bn worth of PPE that the department bought between 2020 and 2022 was unusable or its value is now less than the government paid for it. This includes defective or unsuitable equipment as well as PPE that could not be used before its expiry date.
Gareth Davies, the comptroller and auditor general of the National Audit Office, said: “Ongoing efforts to detect, prevent and recover fraud must continue, improving public confidence that this drain on the public finances is being tackled effectively and efficiently.”
The figures come as the National Crime Agency investigates allegations of bribery and fraud in the awarding of PPE contracts.
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said: “As chancellor, Rishi Sunak threw away taxpayers’ money as if it were confetti and has failed to get our money back. Sunak’s carelessness has cost our country dear. Never again can the Conservatives claim to be the careful stewards of the public finances.
“A Labour government will appoint a Covid corruption commissioner to chase down those who ripped off the British taxpayer, and we’ll set up an Office of Value for Money so every penny of public money is spent wisely.”
The Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, said: “This is a sickening level of waste. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been poured down the drain because of this Conservative government’s incompetence. To rub salt in the wound, some of this money was wasted on dodgy contracts with Conservative cronies, the vast majority of which has still not been recovered.
“The health secretary should come to parliament and explain how so much taxpayers’ money was frittered away and what is being done to get it back.”
Downing Street defended the losses. The prime minister’s spokesperson said: “It’s important not to forget the circumstances in which the UK and countries globally found themselves during a pandemic when globally PPE was in extremely short supply.
“The costs as a result increased significantly and the government took the decision very transparently to do everything possible to secure protective equipment for frontline health and care workers. That was right.”
