Michael Gove incorrect to say 97% of PPE procured 'fit-for-purpose'

“We did everything we could to get that equipment [PPE], 97% of the equipment that we secured was ready, fit-for-purpose and there on the front line”

Update: After this article was published, the Department of Health and Social Care told us its annual report, which is referred to below, included some inaccuracies. We've therefore put this piece under review while we investigate further and plan to publish a full update in due course

On the Today programme, Michael Gove claimed that 97% of PPE procured during the pandemic was “ready, fit-for-purpose and there on the front line.”

However, this is incorrect because not all of these items were “fit-for-purpose” or “on the front line”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told us the other 3% corresponds to the £0.67 billion of PPE described in the department’s annual report as equipment “which cannot be used, for instance because it is defective”.

The 97% includes £2.6 billion of PPE which was deemed “not suitable for use within the health and social care sector”, and so couldn’t reasonably be described as being “fit-for-purpose” (insofar as it was procured for health and social care workers). 

Nor could it be described as “there on the front line”, as Mr Gove said. The department noted that while this equipment “might be suitable for other uses[...] these potential other uses are as yet uncertain”.

An additional £0.75 billion of PPE was said to be “in excess of the amount that will ultimately be needed.”

In total this amounts to a third of the £12.1 billion that was spent on pandemic-related PPE in England in the 2020/21 financial year. 

Mr Gove’s claim related to item count, rather than the value of items. It is not clear how many individual items of PPE this £4 billion equates to.

Full Fact approached Mr Gove for comment on his claim, but had not received a reply at time of publication.

Image courtesy of Chatham House