£250m wasted on ‘VIP’ Covid tests

The details were obtained via a freedom of information request and named six companies that supplied the unusable lateral flow and LAMP tests – four of which were awarded deals via the secretive VIP Lane.

The ‘VIP’ suppliers were:

• Innova Medical, who landed Covid contracts valued at £4bn via the VIP lane after its UK partner, a company trading under the name ‘Tried & Tested’, contacted Boris Johnson’s former advisor, Dominic Cummings.
• Surescreen Diagnostics, who were awarded a £500m contract after Liam Fox MP referred the firm to Matt Hancock. Surescreen subsequently donated £20,000 to Liam Fox.
• Abbott Diagnostics and OptiGene Ltd, both of whom were referred onto the VIP lane by former health minister Lord Bethell – OptiGene were subsequently awarded a £322m contract, leading to a 1221% increase in profits to £41m.

Unusable kits were also supplied by Taner Pharma UK Ltd and Medco Solutions Ltd. Overall, the DHSC confirmed they currently hold in storage Covid tests valued at £279m, of which we now know £246m will go to waste.

We have previously reported on the staggering waste generated by the Government’s controversial approach to procurement during the pandemic. Last month, we revealed that PPE losses had risen to £14.9bn.

The Department of Health and Social Care’s annual accounts for 2021-22 revealed a further £6bn write-down in connection with PPE and other inventory. This follows a £8.9bn write-down in 2020-21.

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