North Yorkshire County Council has spent £4.1 million on personal protective equipment since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been revealed.
A report due before the authority’s audit committee next week said the council has distributed four million items of PPE to 67 different sites, including care homes.
Gary Fielding, corporate director of strategic resources, said in the report the authority had to spot purchase stock in the first weeks of the pandemic due to problems with the supply chain.
A total of 17% has been spent on suppliers in County Durham and Teesside.
Of the remainder, 40% was spent on national suppliers, 28% on local suppliers and 15% on regional suppliers.
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The council has distributed one million aprons and one million faces masks, with 282,000 items of PPE sent out on a weekly basis.
Mr Fielding said:
“The council never ran out of PPE at any point during the pandemic, and by the summer had secured stock to cover the council needs based on forecasted usage, up to the end of March 2021.
“Currently the council holds around 8.4 million items of PPE in stock at a secure storage location”
It comes as the county council has estimated that the pandemic will cost the authority an additional £82 million this year.
This is due to an increase in spend on support for vulnerable residents and measures to combat covid, as well as lost income from council tax and business rates.
As a result, council bosses are considering increasing council tax by 1.99% next year, equivalent to a £27 rise, in an effort to plug its financial gap caused by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the council had anticipated a funding gap of £186 million by next year due to austerity. However, it has since found £173 million in savings.
Now the authority needs to find £103 million over the next three years to cover loss of central government funding.
Officials have launched a consultation on the budget proposals, which people can take part in until January 11.
County council leader, Cllr Carl Les, has urged residents to take part.
He said:
“We want North Yorkshire to be a thriving county and pride ourselves on being a well-run authority, but the funding gaps in our budget create huge uncertainty.
“I would encourage everyone to take part and let us know their views on our council plan priorities, setting council tax for next year and our longer term plans.”
