There has been a good deal of interest in the issue of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) since the outset of the pandemic and we’re currently carrying out a review of the procurement and supply of PPE in Wales.

We’ve written a letter to the Chair of the Health, Social Care and Sports Committee and the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee explaining our work. We’ve shared some emerging findings that have come up during our field work phase, around the spend and distribution of PPE, the contracting approach, and checks and approval arrangements.

The Health, Social Care and Sport (HSCS) Committee commented on the supply of PPE in its July 2020 report [PDF opens in new window]. The Public Accounts Committee received evidence about PPE procurement in September 2020 as part of its inquiry into public procurement. And more recently, interest has been heightened by the publication of two reports by the National Audit Office (NAO). The first of these looked at UK Government procurement [opens in new window] and the second looked more broadly at the supply of PPE in England [opens in new window].

Our work covers the same areas as the NAO – procurement and supply of PPE for all public services in Wales, with a particular focus on the NHS and social care.  

Our fieldwork so far has focussed on the procurement of PPE. We still have work to do to in the coming weeks to complete our view on both procurement and supply, specifically to frontline staff.

We intend to complete our work and publish our full findings in the spring.