Labour complains at costs of PPE storage

PPE storage is costing the taxpayer nearly half a million pounds per day, Labour has claimed.

The Government has revealed that storage of personal protective equipment (PPE) related to Covid-19 is estimated to be £3.3 million a week.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, who requested an estimate of the costs, has claimed this equates to £471,429 being spent every day on storing PPE. She said struggling families would be “outraged” to learn how much is being “frittered away” on PPE storage costs.

Labour also claimed its analysis shows that Government “waste” on PPE over the course of the pandemic would be enough to save each household in the UK more than £310.

The written question from Ms Rayner also revealed that £5.8 million of taxpayers’ money had been spent on PPE storage in China at the end of 2021. The Opposition’s deputy leader said: “While families are struggling to make their pay cheques last the month, they will be justly outraged to learn their hard-earned taxes are being frittered away to meet huge PPE storage costs on the other side of the world.

“The Government flushing the public’s money down the drain with their wasteful cronyism adds insult to injury as they raise taxes on working people in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”

Ms Rayner had asked the Government to “publish an estimate of the costs of storage and warehousing for PPE from August 2021 to date”.

In response, health minister Edward Argar said: “The information is not held in the format requested. The department reports on storage costs on a quarterly basis based on invoiced expenditure.

“Between September 1, 2021, to November 30, 2021, the latest information available, the total cost for personal protective equipment storage in the United Kingdom was £72.4 million and £5.8 million for storage in China.

“We estimate current storage costs to be approximately £3.3 million a week. This is a reduction of 82% compared to October 2020.”