PPE Expenditure

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Wednesday 25th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Absolutely. As ever, we want to learn the lessons. That is why we have set up the Covid inquiry. Yes, supply arrangements are in place. At the same time, as per the answer to the previous question, holding high levels of stock does not make sense. It is cheaper in this case to dispose of it while making sure that the supply lines are in place so that we can rapidly respond to any future event.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, I understand from the Minister that it is the department that paid the cost of this useless material, and for its storage. How many doctors, nurses and ambulance staff could be given a decent pay rise if that money had been given to the NHS?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Again, I would take issue with the words “useless material”. It was bought based on a projection of how the pandemic could progress and what would be required. The fact that it did not progress that far was thanks a lot to the work we did in being the quickest country to vaccinate in the world. So, we did not need that level of PPE; that was a good thing. We bought for a worst-case scenario and, thank goodness, we did not require it because of the action we took to get on top of it all. Now, we are dealing with the surpluses bought for that worst-case scenario and quickly disposing of them.