The government’s approach to buying personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic resembled “panic buying”, according to a group of MPs.

The Public Accounts Committee has released a report into the purchases, saying officials had to work at “very fast pace in extraordinary circumstances” to get hold of what was needed.

But it claimed the “rushed” approach meant “many risky contracts” were signed with suppliers during COVID, and £9bn of public money had to be written off.

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The committee said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had “insufficient time and resources to reflect properly on each offer”, and the pressure led officials to “accept very high levels of risk” – including buying products where the bids or providers were “sub-optimal”.

“Colloquially, this might be called panic buying,” they added.

The report also pointed to the so-called VIP lanes, where some PPE contracts were handed over following referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials, that were later ruled unlawful by the High Court.

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The committee said the risk of conflict of interest through the route was “high by design”.

But on the specific case of Tory peer Baroness Mone, who is alleged to have referred PPE Medpro through the VIP lane for contracts worth £200m and to have profited through her links to the firm – allegations she denies – the MPs were unable to “comprehensively conclude” her emails were treated differently by ministers.

Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier said the conclusions were “limited by nature” as there was an ongoing investigation by the National Crime Agency into the case.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the report showed the case was “just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this Conservative government’s culture of cronyism and waste”.

She added: “The government’s dodgy contracts handed out through the illegal VIP Lane, woeful mismanagement and abject failures of due diligence have seen billions of the public’s money frittered away on PPE unfit for human use.”

A DHSC spokesperson said: “We acted swiftly to procure PPE at the height of the pandemic, competing in an overheated global market where demand massively outstripped supply.

“Due diligence was carried out on all companies and every company was subjected to the same checks.

“We have launched legal proceedings against the firm in question and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

The Department of Health and Social Care is suing PPE Medpro for more than £130m over gowns it provided during the pandemic – but the firm has called it a “cynical attempt to recover money from suppliers” who acted in good faith.

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