Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the £0.67 billion spent on PPE which cannot be used because it is defective; and which companies provided that defective PPE.

The Department’s expenditure on personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic was £13.1 billion. Due to the high global demand, prices for PPE duly increased to unprecedented levels. The £8.7 billion reported through the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2020/21 represents the estimated reduction in value of PPE purchased during the height of the pandemic. The Department is managing the stockpile to maximise its value by identify alternative uses and resale potential for inventory we do not intend or expect to use.

The £8.7 billion PPE inventory is comprised of the following:

- £0.673 billion relating to items which have been assessed as not being suitable for any use, the only element of the impairment considered a loss;

- £2.581 billion for items not suitable for use within the health and social care sector which may be suitable for other uses and are therefore held for future sale, repurpose or donation;

- £4.701 billion reflecting the impairment recognised as a result of fluctuations in the market price of PPE between the point of purchase and the balance sheet date; and

- £0.75 billion relating to inventory which has an expiry date prior to the expected usage date and is therefore held for resale or donation.

Where products ordered did not arrive or failed to meet the required standard, we are currently reviewing the terms of the relevant contract to determine whether a breach of contract has occurred. We are also considering options to repurpose or recycle items. All products are quality assured and only distributed if they meet the relevant standards in the technical specification for PPE.

We are unable to provide the information requested on individual companies which have provided defective PPE as this information is commercially sensitive. The Department is in commercial discussions with a number of suppliers and disclosure of this information is likely to impact these proceedings. The estimate for unusable PPE purchased and held by the Department represents approximately 3% of all items purchased since the beginning of the pandemic.