TEN billion pounds – that’s how much the taxpayer laid out for over-priced PPE because the UK stockpile was inadequate, a watchdog has found.

Costs of the vital goods shot up when the pandemic hit and lack of preparation cost the public purse big, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

In a report published today, it noted that providers made a “huge effort” to boost personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies as they realised that the country’s stockpiles, which were geared up for a flu-style pandemic, would not be sufficient.

But, with the impact of the pandemic already starting to be felt across the world by early spring, officials paid “very high prices given the very unusual market conditions”.

Procurement chiefs at the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) ended up paying 1300% more for some items compared with 2019 prices during the first wave of coronavirus.

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The findings come just a week after the spending watchdog found there was a “high-priority lane” established for PPE suppliers referred to the procurement team by officials, ministers’ offices, MPs, peers and senior NHS staff, with about one in ten companies going through this route getting a contract, compared with one in 100 for those in the “ordinary lane”.

NAO head Gareth Davies said: “As PPE stockpiles were inadequate for the pandemic, government needed to take urgent action to boost supplies.

“Once it recognised the gravity of the situation ... the price of PPE increased dramatically, and that alone has cost the taxpayer around £10 billion.”

Meg Hillier MP, who chairs the Commons Public Accounts Committee, accused ministers of being “far too slow” to respond and said they were left paying “through the roof” for the frontline equipment. The Labour MP said: “The pandemic caught the NHS on the wrong foot. The national stockpile was nowhere near big enough for a coronavirus outbreak – a consequence of the pandemic plans’ fixation on influenza.

“The Government was far too slow to recognise how precarious the position was. When the penny finally dropped, DHSC had to scramble to buy what was left.”

Between February and July, DHSC spent £12.5bn on 32 billion items of PPE. There was a 166% rise in the cost of respirator masks and a 1300% increase in the price of body bags.

The auditor concluded that, had the Government been able to buy PPE at 2019 prices, expenditure to July 2020 would have been £2.5bn.

The last-ditch efforts also meant that, by the time the PPE was ordered, it did not arrive in time for the first wave, with action now being taken to stockpile Covid-style gear for future use by NHS and social care staff.

Of the 32 billion items of PPE procured between February and July, only 2.6 billion items were delivered to frontline organisations in that period, the NAO said, with demand so high in April and May that stock levels were “negligible” for most types of protection.