THE SNP Cabinet Office spokesman Pete Wishart has questioned Michael Gove over the UK’s coronavirus preparedness after a Panorama investigation last night sparked concern over the Government’s pandemic stockpiling efforts.

The BBC programme found that gowns, visors, swabs and body bags had been left out of the stockpile when it was set up in 2009. A government spokesperson said that was because the stockpile was intended for a flu pandemic, and added that its advisory committee on respiratory virus threats, Nervtag, had not recommended stockpiling such items.

However Panorama reported Nervtag had recommended gowns, one of the most in-demand PPE items during the coronavirus pandemic, should be bought in June.

The investigation also revealed that the UK Government had downgraded guidance on PPE and advised staff to wear less protective aprons and basic masks unless in the most high-risk situations shortly before removing Covid-19 from the list of high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in March.

A government spokesperson had said that decision was made due to its low mortality rate and increased clinical awareness around the virus, adding: "The HCID classification is used for serious infections where there are limited numbers of cases requiring specialist input and facilities."

Cabinet Office minister Gove took questions in the Chamber today as MPs continued to operate in the hybrid-style Parliament system.

He mentioned the investigation’s findings and asked: “Why were we so unprepared? Why were gowns, visors, swabs and body bags left out of the stockpile when it was set up in 2009?

“The Royal College of Physicians has found that 27% of doctors are re-using or have used their PPE; why are they having to re-use PPE?"

He went on: “We all want to get behind this Government, to cheer it on when it is doing its best, but we also want it to admit when mistakes are acknowledged, when there have been shortcomings.

“So will the Secretary of State now be prepared to acknowledge his shortcomings and admit to some of these mistakes?”

READ MORE: Panorama: Westminster failed to stockpile crucial PPE

Gove insisted that the pandemic stockpile had been built up in accordance with advice from Nervtag and repeated it had been specifically for a flu pandemic.

He said: “The nature of coronavirus is different from a flu pandemic, as we all know, and we, like every government across the world, have had to respond to this new virus by assuring not just with personal protective equipment, but in every respect, that we are in a position to retool, refit and to upgrade our response.”

Labour’s Rachel Reeves also expressed concern over the Government’s PPE provision.

She asked: “How can the Government claim to have delivered a billion items of PPE when this number included counting individual gloves and paper towels?”

Gove said the UK Government had distributed 143 million masks, 163m aprons, 1.8m gowns and 547m gloves before adding: “Depending on the surgical setting, gloves are sometimes delivered in pairs or groups of four or in different consignments.”

Responding to the Panorama investigation last night a Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: A Department for Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it, guided at all times by the best scientific advice.

“The government has been working day and night to battle against coronavirus, delivering a strategy designed at all times to protect our NHS and save lives.”