Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what quality control methods were used by by his Department to help ensure that PPE procured from China met UK standards during the covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make an estimate of the proportion of PPE that did not meet the required standard for use in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department regularly reviews optimal storage solutions for personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure value for money. The Department reviews the quality of all PPE purchased and to determine whether these products are suitable for use by frontline staff. Stock which has not passed initial quality assurance will be identified as not for use in medical settings. The Department undertakes a full visual assessment of all the stock held in China and in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether analysis has been undertaken to establish whether all the PPE stored in China is (a) still usable and (b) meets the standards required for use in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department regularly reviews optimal storage solutions for personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure value for money. The Department reviews the quality of all PPE purchased and to determine whether these products are suitable for use by frontline staff. Stock which has not passed initial quality assurance will be identified as not for use in medical settings. The Department undertakes a full visual assessment of all the stock held in China and in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the value for money to the public purse of Government storage arrangements for PPE in China.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department regularly reviews optimal storage solutions for personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure value for money. The Department reviews the quality of all PPE purchased and to determine whether these products are suitable for use by frontline staff. Stock which has not passed initial quality assurance will be identified as not for use in medical settings. The Department undertakes a full visual assessment of all the stock held in China and in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has taken recent action with ministerial colleagues to assess the extent to which contracts entered into by the UK government to procure PPE in the last five years represented value for money.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government Internal Audit Agency analysed the prices paid for individual products in the personal protective equipment (PPE) supply chain. This included 12 contracts where the Agency found a proportionate control environment which balanced the need to urgently procure PPE with the need to secure value for money.