MPs have been told that ministers may have bought three billion protective gloves that were manufactured using modern slavery in the first year of the pandemic.

The Public Accounts Committee heard from Department of Health and Social Care officials concerning investigating allegations that the gloves were produced by forced labour.

Jonathan Marron, director general of the department’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, said that if the allegations are proven, the government is probably ‘contractually obligated to take the gloves back and return the money’.

Marron also revealed that 176 PPE contracts signed during the pandemic, worth £3.9 billion, were being examined over concerns about quality or non-delivery of items. This represents almost half of all the contracts signed and almost a third of the £12 billion PPE budget.

He told MPs that 27 of these contracts, worth more than £1 billion, are now the subject of legal action, and a further 59 are the subject of ‘commercial discussions’.