The scramble to buy PPE during the pandemic saw the UK waste almost £10 billion of taxpayers’ money, the inquiry says, with tens of millions of pounds more spent on other equipment that simply could not be used.

The chair Baroness Heather Hallett criticised the “vast” waste in pandemic procurement, amounting to two-thirds of the £14.9bn total the UK and devolved governments spent on PPE.

Although it was better to have purchased too much PPE in a pandemic than too little, it would “clearly have been better if supply had been calibrated more closely with demand”, the report concluded.

“Better planning would have resulted in fairer, faster and less costly procurement decisions.”

“Had ministers and officials been better equipped with appropriate plans, information and systems, procurement decisions would have been easier, fairer and far less costly – and equipment would have reached those who needed it faster,” Hallett added.