The UK wasted almost £10 billion (€11 billion) during the Covid-19 pandemic on protective equipment such as masks and gowns that were either defective or remained unused, the country’s inquiry into the outbreak found.The total wasted amounted to almost two-thirds of the country’s total spend on personal protective equipment PPE) according to the study led by retired judge and cross-bench peer Heather Hallett. That was down to an inadequate stockpile of kit before the pandemic, inefficient procurement and substandard equipment, it found.The report also criticised the Conservative government’s use of a so-called “VIP Lane”, which fast-tracked the assessment of PPE offers made by contacts of ministers, saying such an approach should not be repeated.The most high-profile scandal of the VIP lane contracts was PPE Medpro, a newly formed company linked to the then Conservative peer Michelle Mone, which was awarded two contracts worth £203 million (€237 million) after Mone first approached Michael Gove, the then cabinet office minister, in May 2020.The inquiry has heard evidence relating to PPE Medpro, and Hallett has reached her conclusions, but they are not yet being published.Hallett concluded that the inquiry “has not identified cronyism or corruption on the part of ministers and officials in final contracting decisions”. But, she said: “The ‘high priority’ lane should not have been established and must not be repeated.”Hallett said: “Although it was not intended, the system was inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government. This heightened the risk of abuse.”“The waste of taxpayers’ money was vast” and frontline workers were left without adequate protection, she added.The investigation lays bare a picture of a dysfunctional government as well as gaps in the civil service’s pandemic planning. The Tory government’s response ultimately fed into prime minister Boris Johnson’s downfall and left a fiscal overhang that subsequent administrations have struggled to overcome.The report did not identify “cronyism or corruption on the part of ministers and officials in final contracting decisions,” but concluded that the VIP lane “should not have been established and must not be repeated” because it eroded public trust in the government’s response.Suppliers in the VIP lane were around 13 times more likely to be awarded contracts than suppliers in the regular route, according to the report. Those contracts were more likely to be awarded to an intermediary rather than the manufacturer directly and more likely to have performance issues than contracts that went through the regular route, although there was little difference in price.The VIP line “conferred the benefits of speed, a bespoke service and the increased likelihood of being awarded a contract,” the report said. While they generally came from firms linked to the Conservative government, then-shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves referred about 20 suppliers to Michael Gove, who served in Johnson’s Tory cabinet. They were ultimately rejected as being unsuitable.The report also said Johnson and then-health secretary Matt Hancock’s public “call to arms” for PPE at the end of March 2020 went against the advice of cabinet office officials and contributed to the procurement system being overwhelmed.The prime minister and health secretary “intended to acquire PPE at nearly any cost” whereas the UK treasury was “generally more risk-averse and tried, with mixed success, to apply more stringent spending controls.” The inquiry has itself faced criticism over cost and the time taken to draw conclusions that were evident during the pandemic, such as the need for better data. The key question of whether the lockdowns restrictions were the correct response has also not yet been addressed.The inquiry’s first reports criticised the UK’s preparedness and political decision-making, saying Johnson presided over a “toxic and chaotic culture” inside Downing Street and that the governments of the four nations “failed their citizens”.However, the inquiry also praised the UK’s fast vaccine roll-out as an “extraordinary feat”.Theinvestigation’s remaining reports, including on children, the economy and the wider social impact, are due to be published by the first half of 2027. – Bloomberg/The Guardian