London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Saving lives beats paperwork during emergency, London says, downplaying deficiencies in PPE procurement exposed by audit

Saving lives beats paperwork during emergency, London says, downplaying deficiencies in PPE procurement exposed by audit

The British government denies any wrongdoing in how it procured personal protection equipment (PPE) to weather the Covid-19 pandemic, after the National Audit Office (NAO) found inadequate documentation and other lapses.
The watchdog looked into Prime Minister Boris Johnson cabinet’s efforts to buy a large number of face masks, face shields and other items that frontline workers needed to protect themselves from Covid-19. A NAO report published on Wednesday identified several shortcomings, but the government said Thursday that the auditors’ finds do not indicate any wrongdoing on the part of the officials, contrary to what some British media believe.

The auditors said in some of the contracts they looked into there was “insufficient documentation on key decisions” and because of that they couldn’t vouch that the government had mitigated risks on perceived or actual conflict of interest in all cases. NAO didn’t find any failures by ministers to disclose potential conflicts of interests.

Work on some contracts began even before they were formally vetted and awarded, which the government explained by the urgency of procurements. Some contracts were also not published for scrutiny in a timely manner, which “has diminished public transparency”, according to NAO.

In its response, the government said that it had to act under extraordinary circumstances on a vital task. “We are proud of our response and pay tribute to the hard work of officials who have secured these supplies,” it said.

One particular issue mentioned by NAO and picked up by the media was the use of the so-called “high priority lane” for potential PPE contracts. It was reserved for leads submitted by government officials, ministers’ offices, MPs and members of the House of Lords, senior NHS staff and other health professionals. These bids enjoyed a remarkably higher acceptance rate, compared to those on the normal lane, but the government denied any bias in the vetting process.

“The high priority mailbox allowed officials to more quickly assess offers from more credible sources, such as large companies with established contacts and more capable of supplying at speed,” it said. “The government also ensured that offers of support raised by opposition MPs … were dealt with expeditiously.”

It thanked NAO for its work and said it will follow the watchdog’s recommendations, but noted that the report was “based on an analysis of just 20 out of 8,600 contracts.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×