Post by northwestman on Dec 27, 2022 20:34:25 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/27/ministers-efforts-to-claw-back-cash-from-ppe-branded-pitiful
Ministers have been accused of making a “pitiful attempt” to recoup taxpayers’ money wasted on fraudulent Covid contracts, after it emerged that only a fraction of the estimated total had been recovered so far.
About £18m has been retrieved by the Department of Health and Social Care through checks on personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts identified as “high risk” and through “contract management”, the Guardian can reveal.
Will Quince, a health minister, said the figure was correct as of 12 December, and stressed that the government was working to “prevent loss”. However, the amount of taxpayers’ money clawed back is significantly less than that believed to have been lost through PPE fraud.
By January 2022, the DHSC said it had spent £12.6bn on PPE. It estimated that up to 5% of this could have involved fraud or error – worth £630m.
The Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises the value for money of government spending, also said a stockpile of items worth £3.9bn was not needed. It added that there were disputes with more than 100 suppliers over £2.7bn worth of stock – mostly over concerns about the quality of PPE provided.
Ministers have been accused of making a “pitiful attempt” to recoup taxpayers’ money wasted on fraudulent Covid contracts, after it emerged that only a fraction of the estimated total had been recovered so far.
About £18m has been retrieved by the Department of Health and Social Care through checks on personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts identified as “high risk” and through “contract management”, the Guardian can reveal.
Will Quince, a health minister, said the figure was correct as of 12 December, and stressed that the government was working to “prevent loss”. However, the amount of taxpayers’ money clawed back is significantly less than that believed to have been lost through PPE fraud.
By January 2022, the DHSC said it had spent £12.6bn on PPE. It estimated that up to 5% of this could have involved fraud or error – worth £630m.
The Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises the value for money of government spending, also said a stockpile of items worth £3.9bn was not needed. It added that there were disputes with more than 100 suppliers over £2.7bn worth of stock – mostly over concerns about the quality of PPE provided.
