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Written Question
Protective Clothing: Waste Disposal
Wednesday 24th May 2023

Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much surplus personal protective equipment they plan to dispose of through (1) reselling through the National Health Service, (2) incinerating, or (3) putting in landfill; how much of this has been achieved so far; and at what cost.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department published, in an online only format, statistics showing the quantity of personal protective equipment (PPE), purchased by the Government for use during the COVID-19 pandemic, that has been sent for disposal on 30 March 2023.

There are currently no further plans to resell surplus stock, including through the National Health Service or utilising landfill as a method of disposal. It is likely that energy from waste will be used as a means of disposal.

The number of PPE items excess to requirements that have been sold or sent for disposal up to 28 February 2023 are sales 161.2 million items, disposals through recycling 1.468 billion items and disposals through energy from waste 1.4048 billion items.

Our records show that the spend for disposal of surplus PPE in financial year 2022/23 was £16,423,267.

Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 09 Nov 2022
NHS: Backlogs

"My Lords, I believe that Prime Minister Johnson promised 40 new hospitals, but the Minister has mentioned five—what has happened to the other 35?..."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: NHS: Backlogs
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 22 Jul 2021
Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021

"My Lords, I am very pleased to take part in this debate, and I certainly support my noble friend Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe’s amendment. Going back to the Question we had on Tuesday about the possible addition of salt and sugar tax, I thought that was a rather good idea, …..."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Dec 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020

"My Lords, there is a pressing need for credible testing and data if the tiers being proposed today are going to work. As long ago as March, the director-general of the World Health Organization said:

“We must test every suspected case … Test, test, test”


and paragraph 7.3 of …..."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Oct 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Local COVID-19 Alert Level) (Very High) (England) Regulations 2020

"My Lords, the system of testing that is the basis for these three SIs has failed completely, as many noble Lords have said. It is in total disarray: the data comes late, is unreliable and does not, in my view, support any kind of three-tier lockdown. My noble friend Lady …..."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health Protection (Coronavirus, Local COVID-19 Alert Level) (Very High) (England) Regulations 2020
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 10 Sep 2020
Covid-19 Update

"My Lords, I want to follow up on the Minister’s answer to the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, about airport testing. Apparently, we have this world-beating system and many millions of tests that we can do, but now we have limited resources. The number of people who have had to cancel …..."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19 Update
Written Question
Coronavirus: Death
Thursday 4th June 2020

Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish data on the number of deaths per 100,000 of the population from COVID-19 on a regular basis for each (1) region, and (2) nation, in (a) the UK, and (b) other countries.

Answered by Lord Bethell

Statistics on deaths involving COVID-19 are available from a range of sources. The Department publishes a daily count, covering the whole of the United Kingdom, and showing how many people have died following a positive test. That source does not provide a breakdown by region or other factors, but it is sourced directly from data published separately by Public Health organisations in each of the four nations of the UK, and each of those provides a detailed count by region, local authority or health board. Data from Public Health England, for example, provides both a trend series and a breakdown by local authority.

Separately, the Office for National Statistics now publishes very detailed data each week, drawing on data from death registration systems. Those statistics include a breakdown by region, age and gender for England and Wales and also provides direct links to equivalent sources for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Our current best source of international comparisons is the daily tracker published by Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and that is the source used to inform the daily Downing Street press briefings.

Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 09 Jan 2020
Queen’s Speech

"I wish the noble Baroness good luck in those five years.

My Lords, I declare an interest as a former chairman of the HS2 review. I will talk about railways and HS2, if I may, in the short time available. I welcome the references in the Queen’s Speech to prioritising …..."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Queen’s Speech
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 09 Jan 2020
Queen’s Speech

"I am aware of those prioritisations. They want both. I have talked to them. However, when I asked them, “Do you want HS2 to get to London quicker or do you want better commuter services?”, they said, after a lot of thinking, that commuter services came first...."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Queen’s Speech
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 09 Jan 2020
Queen’s Speech

"I will conclude. I am grateful to the Economic Affairs Committee, under the great chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, for its excellent report. I hope that Ministers will read it, if they have not done so already, and I hope that we will have a debate on it. …..."
Lord Berkeley - View Speech

View all Lord Berkeley (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Queen’s Speech