A couple who made almost £2billion from the sale of Covid PPE despite most of it never being used will not have to give evidence to the Government’s inquiry.
Former nurse Sarah, 51, and husband Richard Stoute, 54, won a contract to supply NHS hospitals with protective gowns and masks to frontline staff battling the pandemic.
But when it ended, it was found that £1.4billion worth of the personal protective equipment (PPE) their business Full Support Healthcare provided was unused and destroyed.
Despite part of the £200million Covid Inquiry delving into the £12billion of public money awarded to firms, the Stoutes will not be called to give evidence. The inquiry can compel witnesses to give evidence.
Samuel Akinsanya, whose mother Esther was an NHS nurse and died from Covid in April 2020, told The Sun on Sunday he was ‘deeply shocked’.
He added: ‘The Stoutes secured lucrative government contracts for PPE, often without proper scrutiny or competitive processes.
‘The Government’s award of these contracts led to significant financial waste and compromised the safety of frontline workers like my mother.’
Former nurse Sarah (pictured), 51, and husband Richard Stoute, 54, won a contract to supply NHS hospitals with protective gowns and masks to frontline staff battling the pandemic.
Samuel Akinsanya, whose mother Esther was an NHS nurse and died from Covid in April 2020, said he was ‘deeply shocked’ the Stoutes will not be called to give evidence to the Covid Inquiry (file image)
An estimated £1.4billion of PPE supplied by the Stoutes was later destroyed or written off. Pictured: Thousands of boxes of PPE dumped next to a nature reserve in Hampshire in 2023
After the pandemic broke out in early 2020, NHS staff on the frontline of the disease were in desperate need of PPE.
The then-Conservative government ordered more than 30billion PPE items from private businesses across the course of the pandemic – and the Stoutes’ firm was one of the biggest suppliers.
The value of items the government ordered from them, via a pre-existing deal the business had struck with the NHS, came to £1.8billion – but around £1.4billion worth of that was written off or destroyed.
The company said it delivered the contracted PPE in full, to the required regulatory standards, and ahead of schedule – and any unused kit was the result of decisions made by the Government.
Some have suggested the couple’s Full Support Healthcare Limited was paid double the rates of other private businesses contracted by the government to supply PPE. None of these contracts were put out to tender.
The Stoutes claimed they had a ‘tip-off’ in late 2019 about Covid spreading from China, giving them time to get enormous PPE stockpiles together to meet demand when the time came.
Mrs Stoute previously said: ‘We were thus able to deliver in as timely a way as possible and this undoubtedly saved lives.’
Since striking their major pandemic deal, the couple have bought an enormous £30million pad in the Caribbean, a sprawling £6million country mansion, a £1million superyacht, an equestrian centre and a Bentley car.
The then-Conservative government ordered more than 30billion PPE items from private businesses across the course of the pandemic. Pictured: File photo
When the Mail revealed their Caribbean purchase in February 2022, the couple hired heavy-hitting lawyers including a KC to threaten an injunction to stop details being revealed.
A source close to the couple said at the time they were ‘spending it like EuroMillions jackpot winners’.
When Covid broke out, they moved their business – set up by Mrs Stoute in 2001, with Mr Stoute becoming director in 2004 – off-shore to the Channel island of Jersey, which is known as a tax haven.
Before the pandemic, their family-run business made a profit of under £1million per year.
The Covid Inquiry, set up to investigate how the UK responded to the pandemic and the impact it had on the country, was launched in June 2022.
The series of public hearings, taking evidence from civil servants, health experts and politicians about the pandemic, properly began a year later, in June 2023. It can compel witnesses to give evidence.
The inquiry will not find anyone innocent or guilty but instead publishes findings and recommendations for the government, which it does not have to accept.
It is established and funded by the government but led by an independent chair, former Court of Appeal judge Baroness Heather Hallett.
The Covid Inquiry is established and funded by the government but led by an independent chair, former Court of Appeal judge Baroness Heather Hallett (pictured)
Last month, it was announced that evidence about the multimillion-pound PPE contracts awarded to a company with links to Baroness Michelle Mone (pictured) will be heard in private during this stage of the Covid Inquiry
Four weeks of hearings began on March 3 to investigate how roughly £48billion of Covid-related medical equipment – including PPE, the test and trace programme, hospital supplies and vaccines – was contracted, bought and distributed.
One focus of this fifth section of the inquiry will be the so-called ‘VIP lane’, known officially as the high priority lane, for awarding government contracts.
The policy was introduced in April 2020 to prioritise offers to supply PPE if they had been recommended by ministers, MPs, peers or other senior officials.
But it led to claims that businesses with links to the then-Conservative government were able to secure major deals without being fully scrutinised.
Last month, it was announced that evidence about the multimillion-pound PPE contracts awarded to a company with links to Baroness Michelle Mone will be heard in private at the Covid-19 inquiry.
The Tory peer and lingerie entrepreneur, 52, and her husband Doug Barrowman, 59, have faced controversy over the so-called ‘VIP lane’ contracts.
PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Mr Barrowman, was awarded government contracts worth more than £200million to supply personal protective equipment after Lady Mone recommended it to ministers.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) launched an investigation into PPE Medpro in May 2021 over suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement process.
In its submission, the NCA said there was a ‘realistic possibility that criminal charges against one or more individuals will flow from the investigation’.
The agency initially sought to prevent the inquiry hearing any evidence about the company, later requesting that 26 witness statements collected by its staff be withheld.
It also argued for an order to be imposed which would prevent certain questions about PPE Medpro being asked in a public session of the inquiry.
The NCA said the restrictions should include the identity of any person under investigation and evidence relating to the opinion of government officials concerning the company’s contracts.
The agency also called for restrictions to cover evidence of payments to the firm and who potentially benefited from them.
The NCA in June 2024 said that an unnamed 46-year-old man from Barnet, north London, had been arrested as part of its investigation. No criminal charges have been brought.
The ruling means any sensitive evidence about the company will be heard in a private, closed hearing which is expected to be held in late March.
Lady Hallett said she would impose a time limit on how long proceedings remain closed to achieve a balance between ‘open justice and limiting the risks identified by the NCA’.
The restrictions allow for representatives of five media organisations to be invited to attend. They will be unable to report on the proceedings until the conclusion of any criminal case, including possible appeals.
A spokesman for the inquiry said it ‘does not need evidence from individual companies about orders of PPE to investigate this issue thoroughly. Its focus is on how the Government responded to suppliers’ offers.’
