Are Tories 'Good with money'? Episode 3

Another day, another few billion has been written off.

ITV's Robert Peston reports that "Buried on page 199 of the Department of Health and Social Care's annual report published yesterday is the shocking disclosure that it has incurred £8.7bn of losses - £8.7bn ! - on £12.1bn of PPE bought in 2020/21".

Apparently according to a PA Media report quoted in the Guardian "DHSC documents show huge amounts wasted on useless equipment, while millions of pounds has been spent getting out of contracts or storing PPE at ports.

According to the 2020/21 accounts, some £673m worth of equipment was found to be totally unusable, and £750m was spent on items that were not used before their expiry date.

Nearly £2.6bn was spent on "items not suitable for use in the NHS," but which the department thinks can be sold or given to charities.

The DHSC also said the value of its remaining stock had been slashed by £4.7bn as the price of PPE dropped.

At the start of the pandemic, prices for protective equipment rose sharply as countries clamoured to get hold of items such as face masks.

The accounts further reveal that the DHSC expects that equipment that was scheduled to be delivered after the end of the financial year will lose £1.2bn in value.

A £111 milion parking ticket

The government was also charged £111.5m for not moving containers full of PPE from a port to their storage facility on time.

Good with money? We think not.