PPE Medpro was incorporated in May 2020 – and referred to the ‘VIP lane’ the same daypublished at 13:08 BST
13:08 BST
Cachella Smith
Live reporter, reporting from the High Court
Today’s judgment reveals more details about the company, PPE Medpro – and the government’s race to supply protective equipment to the NHS as the Covid pandemic took hold in 2020.
Medpro was incorporated in 12 May 2020, seven weeks into the first UK lockdown, and was referred to the “High Priority Lane” (HPL) by Baroness Mone on the same day.
The HPL pathway, also known as the “VIP lane”, had been set up in early 2020 to treat offers to supply PPE with greater urgency if they came with a recommendation from ministers, MPs, members of the House of Lords, or other senior officials.
Mrs Justice Cockerill points out that some issues had been “raised internally” at the Department for Health and Social Care around the “potential conflict of interest” with Baroness Mone’s husband, Doug Barrowman, being linked to the company.
“However Medpro’s willingness to contract on DHSC’s
standard terms was noted as a plus point,” the judgment reads.
A contract for masks was subsequently concluded in 2 June 2020 ahead of the contract for gowns, which this case is about.