After the Covid-19 pandemic hit, reserves of personal protective equipment quickly dried up. Stories about frontline staff lacking the kit they needed made headlines night after night and photos of nurses wearing bin bags for protection began circulating on social media. In response, the government began hunting down new supplies just as global demand surged. It started using emergency powers to award PPE contracts worth tens of millions of pounds without opening them to competition, leading to claims that some companies were favoured because of their political connections. Phil Kemp investigates what the government got for the £12.5 billion it spent on PPE and uncovers concerns about the quality of some of the kit that was bought. The Department of Health and Social Care said it had been working tirelessly to deliver PPE to protect health and social staff throughout the pandemic with nearly eight billion items delivered so far.

Producer: Anna Meisel