{"id":23096,"date":"2025-03-03T01:49:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T02:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=23096"},"modified":"2025-03-03T03:24:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T03:24:03","slug":"covid-inquiry-turns-to-ppe-deals-and-the-vip-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=23096","title":{"rendered":"Covid inquiry turns to PPE deals and the &#8216;VIP lane&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-component=\"byline-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<div data-testid=\"byline-new\" class=\"sc-b42e7a8f-0 haItSe\">\n<div class=\"sc-b42e7a8f-1 cjDa-dM\">33 minutes ago<\/p>\n<p><!--$!--><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Share\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 oYtVL dRvUPz dXDmtS\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Share<\/span><\/button><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Save\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 iQJDhl cCYQUA kItbpD\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Save<\/span><\/button><!--\/$--><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--$!--><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Share\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 oYtVL dRvUPz dXDmtS\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Share<\/span><\/button><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Save\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 iQJDhl cCYQUA kItbpD\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Save<\/span><\/button><!--\/$--><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 EXUng\">\n<div data-testid=\"hero-image\" class=\"sc-a34861b-1 jxzoZC\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/a0bd3cc0-f5ef-11ef-bd6e-cd71c2e1454a.jpg.webp\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 efFcac\" \/><span class=\"sc-a34861b-2 hesJxn\">Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The Covid public inquiry will start four weeks of hearings on Monday, looking into the purchase and distribution of billions of pounds&#8217; worth of medical equipment during the pandemic.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">In total, it&#8217;s thought \u00a348bn was spent on personal protective equipment (PPE), the test-and-trace programme, hospital supplies and the vaccine rollout.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Nearly 10% of contracts were awarded to firms with a link to the Conservative government in power at the time, according to the organisation Transparency International.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Bereaved families have accused the inquiry of a &#8220;potential whitewash&#8221; after it emerged representatives of PPE suppliers will not be called upon to give evidence.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"sc-518485e5-0 DkKTF\">The &#8216;VIP lane&#8217;<!-- --><\/h2>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">This fifth section of the inquiry will hear from 50 witnesses, expected to include law experts, civil servants, politicians and transparency campaigners.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Questioning will cover the value of contracts awarded to companies in the pandemic, spending controls, the prevalence of fraud and the steps taken to eliminate it.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The inquiry will also look in detail at the use of the so-called &#8220;VIP lane&#8221; \u2013 officially known as the high priority lane \u2013 to award government contracts.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Introduced in April 2020, the idea was to treat offers to supply PPE with greater urgency if they came with a recommendation from ministers, MPs, members of the House of Lords, or other senior officials.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">At the time the government said there was a &#8220;desperate need&#8221; to protect health and social care staff, and  it was argued swift action was required to secure PPE. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">A <!-- --><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nao.org.uk\/reports\/government-procurement-during-the-covid-19-pandemic\/\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 beIoQm\">National Audit Office report<!-- --><\/a> later found that up to the end of July 2020, about one in 10 suppliers in the high priority lane was awarded a contract, while the figure was less than one in 100 for other suppliers.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The government ordered more than 30m masks, gowns and other items of PPE during Covid, with contracts totalling \u00a314.6bn.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">This part of the inquiry will also look at the purchase of ventilators to help patients breathe, as well as millions of lateral flow and PCR tests.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 jFCfG\">\n<div data-testid=\"image\" class=\"sc-a34861b-1 jxzoZC\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 cOpVbP hide-when-no-script\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/d4dc8ca0-f5ee-11ef-896e-d7e7fb1719a4.jpg.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Femi Akinnola and his son Lobby are pictured sitting by a fountain, looking into the camera. Femi is wearing a blue t-shirt while Lobby is sitting next to him, wearing a light grey sweatshirt. \" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 efFcac\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"sc-518485e5-0 DkKTF\">Whitewash claims<!-- --><\/h2>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Bereaved families have accused the inquiry of &#8220;protecting PPE suppliers from scrutiny&#8221;, after it emerged the inquiry would not seek evidence from commercial firms involved in the contracts.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Lobby Akinnola, whose father Femi died in April 2020, said individual suppliers need to be held to account.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;If people are not called to give evidence, then how are we ever going to know what went wrong?&#8221; he asked.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;Covid cost the lives of nearly 250,000 people in the UK, and if we don&#8217;t take every step we can to learn from mistakes, we are going to leave a weakness in our response.&#8221;<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">A spokesman for the Covid inquiry said it did not need to hear evidence directly from PPE firms as the focus &#8220;is on how the government responded to suppliers&#8217; offers&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;Our role is not to pursue criminal investigations into individuals or suppliers \u2013 that is a matter for law enforcement,&#8221; he said.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The inquiry<!-- --><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c8rkj8pv684o\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 beIoQm\"> also ruled in January that any sensitive evidence about PPE Medpro<!-- --><\/a>, the supplier linked to Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, would be held in private to avoid prejudicing any criminal investigation.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The inquiry&#8217;s chair, Baroness Hallett, has already taken evidence on other subjects including pandemic planning and political decision-making, the impact on the NHS and the vaccine rollout.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Future phases later this year will cover the care sector, test-and-trace, the impact on children, and the economy.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>33 minutes ago<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23096"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23101,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23096\/revisions\/23101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}