Covid Fraud

Lord Pannick Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I can fully understand the noble Baroness’s desire to stand back from this. On entering government, this Government found that £674 million of contracts were in dispute. However, we also inherited a recommendation from the previous Government that any attempt to reclaim that money should be abandoned. The commissioner’s report set out that £10.9 billion was lost to fraud and error from Covid spending. Failed pandemic-era PPE contracts cost the British taxpayer £1.4 billion and over £1.9 billion of bounce-back loans have been flagged as suspected fraud to the British Business Bank. The commissioner also found that the previous Government’s over-ordering of PPE and delays in quality-checking meant that £762 million is unlikely to ever be recovered, with substandard PPE gowns, masks and visors remaining uninspected for up to two years, preventing recovery of public money. Covid fraud and corruption is an appalling financial scandal which has cost UK taxpayers dearly. The noble Baroness asks for a commitment that we will do better next time; I think we could hardly do any worse.

[Lord Pannick (CB)]

My Lords, can the Minister say how much of the billions of pounds of public money which was wasted due to fraud and corruption in relation to Covid has now been recovered?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

As I said in my previous answer, the estimated level of fraud and error stands at £10.9 billion. Some £1.6 billion has so far been recovered and a further £1.5 billion is in the act of being repaid. The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act has extended the limitation period for Covid cases by a further six years, giving us longer to recover the outstanding amounts.