Buried on page 199 of the Department of Health and Social Care’s annual report published yesterday is the shocking disclosure that it has incurred £8.7bn of losses - £8.7bn ! - on £12.1bn of PPE bought in 2020/21. Think about how that money could have been…
deployed in hospitals. Surely there needs to be a statement from @sajidjavid to parliament about this. Here is the excerpt from the DHSC annual report: “the Department estimates that there has been a loss in value of £8.7 billion of the £12.1 billion of PPE purchased in 2020-21…
“This impairment relates to: • £0.67 billion of PPE which cannot be used, for instance because it is defective; • £2.6 billion of PPE which is not suitable for use within the health and social care sector but which…
“the Department considers might be suitable for other uses (although these potential other uses are as yet uncertain); • £0.75 billion of PPE which is in excess of the amount that will ultimately be needed; and • £4.7 billion of adjustment to the year-end valuation…
of PPE due to the market price of equivalent PPE at the year-end being lower than the original purchase price”. In other words the DHSC paid above the odds for more PPE than was needed, tons of which are not fit for purpose. A jaw dropper, even in jaw dropping times 
Here is the Dept of Health’s response: “The supply of these vital items helped keep our NHS open at a moment of national crisis to deliver a world-class service to the public. We are seeking to recover costs from suppliers wherever possible.”
On page 200 of the DHSC annual report, is another worrying admission, namely that the department has not "re-established effective [financial] controls in all areas" having "adapted" its procurement and inventory management systems at the start of the pandemic. It says these...
changes "contributed to a significant loss of value to the taxpayer " and left the Department "open to the risk of fraud".
And attached is the full breakdown of the staggering £8.7bn of PPE losses. You have to read to page 200 of the annual report to fund them
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