When we examined the Department’s 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts, we found that it had written off £14.9 billion of public money as a result of overpaying and over ordering significant volumes of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), COVID-19 medicines and vaccines. We noted that the Department was paying large amounts of money to store the equipment, but would never use a significant proportion of the PPE it had purchased.42 The Department is undergoing a programme to dispose of, primaril...

When we examined the Department’s 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts, we found that it had written off £14.9 billion of public money as a result of overpaying and over ordering significant volumes of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), COVID-19 medicines and vaccines. We noted that the Department was paying large amounts of money to store the equipment, but would never use a significant proportion of the PPE it had purchased.42 The Department is undergoing a programme to dispose of, primarily by incineration, nearly all of its remaining PPE stock as it will not be used by the NHS. The Department procured £13.6 billion of PPE as part of its r Type: conclusion | Number: 23 | Response status: accepted Government response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: January 2025 5.2 The 2021 Boardman Review of Government Procurement in the COVID-19 pandemic on lessons learned from the pandemic included 11 recommendations for the department.