Covid Inquiry confirms VIP lane was biased towards the politically connected, wasting billions in public money

Transparency International UK has responded to the Covid-19 Inquiry's Module 5 report, published today, which found that almost £10 billion of the £14.9 billion spent on PPE during the pandemic was wasted, and that the so-called VIP lane for procurement was "inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government".

The findings closely mirror Transparency International UK's Behind the Masks research, which identified systemic bias in how VIP lane contracts were awarded.

Daniel Bruce, Chief Executive of Transparency International UK, who gave evidence to Module 5 on behalf of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, said:

"The inquiry's report lays bare the failings of the so-called VIP lane for PPE contracts. It confirms our earlier findings that there was systemic bias in awarding contracts to those with connections to the party of government and that, in a majority of cases, there was no objective assessment of those firms' ability to actually deliver PPE.

"The inquiry underscores the damage done to public trust by a prolonged and unnecessary failure of transparency in public spending.

"It also challenges the new government to go further to guard against the risk of corruption in future emergencies."