Boxes of PPE are discarded on an area of land near Testwood Lakes nature reserve in 2023 (Image: Getty Images)
Personal protective equipment (PPE) worth around £1.4bn that was procured during the COVID-19 pandemic has been destroyed or written off in what has been branded a “staggering waste” of public funds. Data obtained by the BBC has revealed the full extent of the PPE scandal.
At least 1.57 billion items of PPE provided by NHS supplier Full Support Healthcare will never be used, the BBC reported.
This is despite the fact the equipment was manufactured to the proper standard.
However, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said it does “not recognise” the £1.4bn figure quoted.
Full Support Healthcare, which is based in Northamptonshire, signed a £1.78bn deal in April 2020 to provide face masks, respirators, eye protection and aprons.
This was the largest Covid PPE order from a single supplier, making up 13 percent of the Government’s total spend.
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The BBC found that £1.4bn worth of PPE has not been used (Image: Getty)
As part of an investigation, BBC journalists submitted a number of Freedom of Information requests to NHS Supply Chain.
They discovered that of the 2.02 billion items of PPE from Full Support Healthcare, just 232 million were actually dispatched to the NHS or other care settings.
Around 749 million items have already been burned or destroyed, “including by energy from waste”.
A further 825 million have been classed as excess stock “where disposal and recycling are possible outcomes”.
Overall, this means around £1.4bn worth of Full Support Healthcare’s PPE will not be used.
Prior to the pandemic, Full Support Healthcare was small with just 25 employees and annual profits of £800,000.
Full Support was paid to supply face masks, aprons and other items during the pandemic (Image: Getty)
But any profits since the contract was fulfilled are not known because in 2021 the husband-and-wife co-directors, Sarah and Richard Stoute, based the business offshore in Jersey for privacy reasons.
They and the company continue to pay all UK tax, the BBC says, and neither Full Support Healthcare nor the Stoutes have done anything improper.
However, the deal is likely to be the most wasteful of the Covid pandemic.
Data firm Tussell, found that only one contract was more costly and it was awarded to a range of suppliers providing mixed services.
Previously the Government estimated that £85m worth of PPE secured under the Full Support Healthcare contract would not be used – just six percent of what was actually the case.
The DHSC told the BBC it was unable to provide a statement due to the pre-election period.
But following the publication of this story a response was given to Express.co.uk.
A DHSC spokesperson said: “We do not recognise the £1.4 billion quoted.
“Our position on PPE stock is set out in the department’s annual accounts as audited by the National Audit Office.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the money lost could have paid for 37,000 nurses (Image: Getty)
“PPE was secured at the height of the pandemic, competing in an overheated global market where demand massively outstripped supply.
“Nearly half of all the remaining stock was sold, recycled, or donated by the department. In line with our reduction of storage and disposal strategy unused items will be turned into energy from waste which will see the department recoup further costs.”
The Conservative Party did not respond to questions from BBC journalists.
In an earlier statement the Government said it had “acted swiftly to procure PPE at the height of the pandemic, competing in an overheated global market where demand massively outstripped supply”.
It is also understood that at least £100m of public money has also been spent on storing and incinerating the excess stock since its purchase.
Labour MP and shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, claimed the money lost “could have been used to pay the salaries of 37,000 nurses”.
He said: “We all know that billions of pounds was wasted during the pandemic on corruption and incompetence, but what the BBC has uncovered is the worst example I have ever seen – £1.4bn on one contract, paying for PPE that was never used.
“It is staggering waste and I think we need a full and frank account as to how so much public money was thrown down the toilet.”
A Liberal Democrats spokesperson said their party would “take steps to ensure such a colossal misuse of public funds never happened again”.
Lawyers representing the Stoutes commented: “Full Support Healthcare stock arrived quickly by summer 2020, much earlier than most and in larger quantities.
“It had either a two- or three-year shelf life. This means the PPE products are more likely to have passed their use-by date.”
In reference to the couple offshoring their business, their lawyers said: “The choice to have the group company resident in Jersey was solely to maintain privacy for our clients and their family, especially given the repeated press intrusion.”
The couple and their company remain registered in the UK for tax.
It comes as last summer the Environment Agency took enforcement action to clear a stockpile of thousands of boxes of waste plastic medical aprons supplied by Full Support Healthcare discovered on a farm in Hampshire.
The government had sold the pallets to a third-party private company while in the process of auctioning off excess PPE and Full Support was not responsible for the stockpile.