In a striking revelation, UK government has said that around five billion items related to personal protective equipment (PPE), which are worth £2.7 billion, will get wasted.
It has said that they are no longer needed or cannot safeguard staff of National Health Service (NHS), a minister of the government has revealed.
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The big chunk of money involved has led to criticism of the government. The disclosure, which was made in a written parliamentary answer by Health Minister Edward Argar, has led the Liberal Democrats to slam the government of “extreme negligence on an industrial scale” in using public funds during the Covid pandemic.
The minister was responding to a question tabled by Wendy Chamberlain, who is the Liberal Democrats’ chief whip and MP for North East Fife, over how much PPE had been procured and not used.
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“The government’s PPE programme had ordered more than 36.4 billion items since the pandemic struck in March 2020. Of this, approximately 3.4 billion units are currently identified as potential excess stock. The estimated price for those items is £2.2 billion,” Argar said.
Argar added, “Of these, 1.2 billion items are deemed to be not fit for use. The purchase price for these items was £458 million.”
The disclosures showed that “the government is burning a hole in the pocket of the taxpayer through its wastage of personal protective equipment,” Chamberlain said.
(With inputs from agencies)
