Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May to Question 184825on Protective Clothing: China, how many items of personal protective equipment held in China were (a) donated, (b) recycled and (c) sold between January 2020 and September 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
Between January 2020 and September 2022, the total number of personal protective equipment (PPE) items held in China that were donated was approximately 57.15 million. No PPE items held in China were recycled or sold.
The majority of stock held in China were in categories of PPE for which the Department has sufficient stock in the UK to meet remaining demand and the items were therefore surplus to requirements.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost of storing personal protective equipment in China was per (a) day and (b) week in (i) February and (ii) March 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
Storage costs data for personal protective equipment are compiled on a monthly basis and the latest collated figures relate to March 2023. The following table shows the cost of storing items in warehouses in China during February and March 2023.
| February 2023 (£) | March 2023 (£) |
Daily | 31,343 | 30,827 |
Weekly | 219,400 | 215,786 |
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May to question 172423 on Protective Clothing: China, what proportion of the items of Personal Protective Equipment disposed of since September 2022, has been (a) donated to other countries, (b) recycled and (c) sold.
Answered by Will Quince
No items of Personal Protective Equipment held in China have been donated, recycled or sold since September 2022.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of usable energy generation from the 3.14 billion items of PPE removed from stock through incineration up to 28 February 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
No estimate has been made.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May to question 172423 on Protective Clothing: China, whether his Department has made an estimate of potential usable energy generation from incineration of the items of Personal Protective Equipment disposed of since September 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has not made an estimate of potential usable energy generation from incineration of the items of Personal Protective Equipment disposed of in China since September 2022.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the (a) number and (b) value of contracts for personal protective equipment for which his Department (i) has brought and (ii) plans to bring legal action against the supplier due to quality issues; and how many of those suppliers have been excluded from taking part in public procurement.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has continued to place quarterly update reports in the libraries of both Houses. These reports include information from the Department’s Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Contracts Dissolution Team and provide an update on progress made by the team, with the most recent being placed on 16 March 2023. The March update reported that the Department had reduced the number of contested PPE contracts from 176 to 60, with an associated value at risk reduced from £2.6 billion to £1.6 billion.
The Department has brought one legal action against one supplier for a contract to the value of £122 million. The other contested contracts are currently under investigation and may or may not result in legal proceedings. Procurement exclusion decisions are made on a case-by-case basis against the criteria set out in Regulation 57 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and are taken by contracting authorities when bidders have applied to participate in a procurement exercise.
The supplier against which legal action has been taken by the Department has not participated in any subsequent procurement exercises undertaken by the Department, and therefore no exclusion has been exercised.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2022 to Question 61151 on Protective Clothing: Storage, what proportion of those items of personal protective equipment have been (a) shipped to the UK and (b) destroyed.
Answered by Will Quince
Of the 589 million items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) referred to in the previous answer of 9 November 2022, no items have been shipped to the United Kingdom.
The majority of remaining stock held in China were in categories of PPE for which the Department has sufficient stock in the UK to meet remaining demand and the items were therefore surplus to requirements. In managing down the stock held in China we made donations to other countries. All of the remaining items are being disposed of through incineration.
As of 31 March 2023 there were 12 million items of PPE remaining in storage in China. All of the reduction in stock held in China since 26 September 2022 has been through disposal, with the aim of enabling an exit from the storage facility as soon as possible.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of storing personal protective equipment in China in (a) December 2021 and (b) January 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The cost to the public purse of storing personal protective equipment in China was approximately £2 million in December 2021, and approximately £1.9 million in January 2022.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost of storing personal protective equipment in China is per (a) day, (b) week and (c) year as of 15 March 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
Storage costs data for personal protective equipment are compiled on a monthly basis and the latest collated figures relate to January 2023. The cost of storing items in warehouses in China was £25.9 million in the year from February 2022 to January 2023. The daily cost of storage has fallen from £63,000 in February 2022 to £30,000 in January 2023.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on consultants for the disposal of personal protective equipment programme, including costs associated with the resolution of disputed contracts, between January 2020 and January 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
From April 2022 to January 2023, the Department spent £1,613,305 on consultancy that can be directly attributed to the disposal of goods. It is not possible to calculate the directly attributable costs associated with consultancy working on disposal prior to April 2022.
The costs associated with consultancy and contingent labour for the resolution of contracts between April 2022 to January 2023 is expected to be £5.45 million. This activity is responsible for the Department recovering well over £50 million to date, and further cash settlements are expected.