A public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has concluded that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government wasted nearly £10 billion ($13.3 billion) on personal protective equipment (PPE) because of serious flaws in its emergency procurement process.
The Module 5 report of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, which examined PPE procurement, found that almost two-thirds of the £14.9 billion spent on protective equipment was ultimately wasted, according to The Guardian.
Inquiry chair Heather Hallett also criticised the government’s controversial “high priority lane”, commonly known as the VIP lane, which fast-tracked PPE contract offers from companies with political connections.
One of the most high-profile cases involved PPE Medpro, a company linked to former Conservative peer Michelle Mone, which was awarded contracts worth £203 million ($271 million) after Mone contacted then-Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove in 2020.
While the inquiry examined evidence relating to PPE Medpro, Hallett said her conclusions on that matter have not yet been published because of an ongoing National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into the contracts.
In her report, Hallett concluded that the VIP lane was a misguided system that “embedded unfairness” into the procurement process, despite being intended to prioritise the most credible offers.