SCOTS councils have spent over £20million on virus protection kit for staff since the start of the Covid pandemic, we can reveal.
Local authorities have forked out at least £4.8million on face coverings and masks, another £2.3million on disposable and reusable gloves and £1.7million on hand sanitiser.
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Glasgow City bosses faced the biggest bill for safeguarding workers, ordering more than £2.4million of PPE for staff across its departments.
The mammoth overall spend of £20,821,364.77 accounts for 25 of Scotland’s 32 councils from February to November — with the rest either denying our freedom of information request or declining to respond.
A spokesman for council umbrella body Cosla said: “There is no doubt that there have been significant costs to councils in relation to the pandemic and these overall costs will form the basis of our budget document that we will launch early in the new year.”
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Our investigation also factored in spending on essentials such as sanitising wipes, disinfectant, disposable aprons, visors, coveralls, plastic screens and other supplies.
Sixteen local authorities gave a detailed breakdown of costs, while other bodies offered just a headline figure or an average expenditure.
We found that North Lanarkshire Council paid out more than £1.6million for PPE, while Aberdeenshire and the Scottish Borders invested just over £1.5million. East Dunbartonshire spent £1.3million.
Renfrewshire, Dumfries and Galloway and East Renfrewshire councils all forked out just over £1million.
Among the remaining bodies who provided details, West Dunbartonshire splashed out more than £890,000, while Falkirk, East Ayrshire, Dundee, Stirling, South Ayrshire and North Ayrshire all spent over half a million pounds.
Highland Council’s bill totalled upwards of £450,000 and Argyll and Bute spent the least at just over £120,000.
Fife, Orkney, Aberdeen City and Shetland councils had not responded tonight.
Edinburgh City knocked back our request, saying the information they hold is “not sufficiently detailed or searchable” to provide answers.
Midlothian Council chiefs said they could not distinguish between general PPE for workers and kit needed specifically to safeguard employees against coronavirus, adding that they could not “drill down into that level of detail”.
South Lanarkshire also refused the request.
Amount councils had to spend
Glasgow – £2,406,339.89
North Lanarkshire – £1,643,310.12
Scottish Borders – £1,586,910
Aberdeenshire – £1,534,375.97
East Dunbartonshire – £1,309,019.85
Renfrewshire – £1,274,362.27
Dumfries and Galloway – £1,037,917
East Renfrewshire – £1,034,000
Perth & Kinross – £917,412.39
West Dunbartonshire – £890,143.49
Falkirk – £881,44.01
East Ayrshire – £854,776.15
Dundee – £728,379
Stirling – £642,780
South Ayrshire – £586,606.04
North Ayrshire – £565,705.74
Highland – £456,825.32
Inverclyde – £453,163
West Lothian – £437,430.86
Angus – £400,017.18
East Lothian – £374,178.98
Moray – £271,227.32
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar – £250,889.19
Clackmannanshire – £162,831
Argyll and Bute – £121,320
GRAND TOTAL – £20,821,364.77
Edinburgh City, Midlothian and South Lanarkshire denied the request.
Fife, Orkney, Shetland and Aberdeen City have not responded so far.
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