Tuesday, March 08, 2022
Burning the evidence
A rare and unusual venture to the website of Mailonline this morning, if only because they appear to be the only mainstream news outlet covering the story.
The paper reports that Department of Health officials have told MPs that they plan to avoid wasting 5.5 billion pieces of faulty or excess PPE bought during the pandemi by burning it.
The idea is to send 15,000 pallets of visors, gowns and gloves to be burned at power plants each month to generate energy in an attempt to recoup part of the billions of pounds wasted on protective gear in the first year of the pandemic:
Contracts were handed out via a 'high priority lane' in 2020 which saw firms handed huge sums without having to go through the normal procurement route.
It led to accusations of 'cash for cronies' after it emerged that friends and associates of Tory MPs were the beneficiaries of the scheme.
It comes as millions Britons face soaring energy bills, although the plan to burn PPE to make electricity is not believed to be in response to that ongoing crisis.
Department of Health officials revealed the prospect of burning PPE in power plants to generate heat and electricity to MPs today during a session of the Public Accounts Committee analysing Government spending on PPE from 2020 to 2021.
MPs also heard how about £4billion of the £12billion purchased in that period is unusable by the NHS.
Officials explained this was either because it was counterfeit or was of a lower standard.
The paper adds that some of examples of potential recycling detailed to MPs included turning visors into food trays and aprons into bin bags. They say that previously, health ministers have floated the idea of using the equipment to make bedsheets and curtains for hospitals.
The paper reports that Department of Health officials have told MPs that they plan to avoid wasting 5.5 billion pieces of faulty or excess PPE bought during the pandemi by burning it.
The idea is to send 15,000 pallets of visors, gowns and gloves to be burned at power plants each month to generate energy in an attempt to recoup part of the billions of pounds wasted on protective gear in the first year of the pandemic:
Contracts were handed out via a 'high priority lane' in 2020 which saw firms handed huge sums without having to go through the normal procurement route.
It led to accusations of 'cash for cronies' after it emerged that friends and associates of Tory MPs were the beneficiaries of the scheme.
It comes as millions Britons face soaring energy bills, although the plan to burn PPE to make electricity is not believed to be in response to that ongoing crisis.
Department of Health officials revealed the prospect of burning PPE in power plants to generate heat and electricity to MPs today during a session of the Public Accounts Committee analysing Government spending on PPE from 2020 to 2021.
MPs also heard how about £4billion of the £12billion purchased in that period is unusable by the NHS.
Officials explained this was either because it was counterfeit or was of a lower standard.
The paper adds that some of examples of potential recycling detailed to MPs included turning visors into food trays and aprons into bin bags. They say that previously, health ministers have floated the idea of using the equipment to make bedsheets and curtains for hospitals.
However, some of the Government's unused PPE will remain in limbo, with 1.5billion pairs of gloves currently unused due to possible being made by slaves.
You really couldn't make this stuff up.
You really couldn't make this stuff up.
