Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Government's timeframe is for meeting the commitment to manufacture 70 per cent of personal protective equipment in the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have taken steps to reduce our dependence on imported personal protective equipment (PPE) and build sustainable manufacturing of PPE in the United Kingdom. Prior to the pandemic, just 1% of PPE used in the UK was produced domestically. The Government’s PPE strategy stated that by 1 December 2020 UK manufacturers would be able to provide 70% of the PPE we expected to use in England through the winter, for all items except gloves. That commitment was met and exceeded by 1 December. The Department is working to publish official statistics to present fully validated figures showing the position as at 1 December 2020 and we expect to publish those figures during March 2021.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the personal protective equipment procured by the Government since September 2020 has been made in the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have taken steps to reduce our dependence on imported personal protective equipment (PPE) and build sustainable manufacturing of PPE in the United Kingdom. Prior to the pandemic, just 1% of PPE used in the UK was produced domestically. The Government’s PPE strategy stated that by 1 December 2020 UK manufacturers would be able to provide 70% of the PPE we expected to use in England through the winter, for all items except gloves. That commitment was met and exceeded by 1 December. The Department is working to publish official statistics to present fully validated figures showing the position as at 1 December 2020 and we expect to publish those figures during March 2021.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the ONS release published on 23 February 2021, entitled Experimental statistics: personal protective equipment distributed for use by health and social care services in England: 15 February to 21 February 2021 and with reference to the 8.6 billion items of PPE that his Department has distributed since February 2020, what the product type categories are for the remaining PPE purchased by the Government; and how much and what proportion of that remaining PPE is usable.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are working to publish official statistics on the stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) as soon as the figures are fully validated.
PPE must be fit for purpose, meeting the necessary essential health and safety requirements of the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2018. We have a robust process in place which ensures that orders are high quality and meet strict safety standards as per the published technical specification for PPE. When faults with PPE are found, immediate action is taken to verify the issue, notify the users and, if necessary, quarantine the stock of the products. Emergency replacements can be ordered or are distributed through the National Supply Disruption Response unit while investigations are undertaken.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
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 the size of the PPE stockpile as at 25 February 2021; and how much of that PPE is usable within the next (a) month, (b) three months and (c) six months.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information is not available in the format requested. The operational process to build stockpiles is supported by a range of detailed operational and management information. We are currently working to fully validate this data.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to hold itself accountable for procurement practices under the terms of the new NHS White Paper.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The National Health Service is currently consulting on the proposal for a new provider selection regime. The central requirement of the proposed new regime is that arrangements for the delivery of healthcare services must be made in a transparent way, in the best interests of patients, taxpayers and the population. All other procurement will continue to be subject to Cabinet Office procurement processes.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish (a) a list of PPE orders agreed by the Government and subsequently cancelled since 1 March 2020 and (b) the reasons why those orders were cancelled.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 the Department has published Contract Award Notices including those which were cancelled. In the period April to June 2020 fifteen contracts were either fully or partly cancelled and information on these can be found in the following links on Contracts Finder:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e691a0b2-234a-4f8c-ae5b-e6fa0a8317bc
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e467b115-7731-4769-a666-a762cb8aa461
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e8c51efb-a070-4965-8cd0-61a58f324287
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0a9a85aa-d5e6-4885-b904-69bed464d6bc
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a9f380c5-878f-4652-8a61-128fe44be2e2
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/4bd4c3ee-fde6-4a0a-a749-becae79615ac
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/7a53e9bc-c9d2-4b15-a741-580d05797d08
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/844bd97f-8a73-4160-8799-a7fcedfe0e1b
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/382d720b-fe06-4718-8ff0-e8678bb11792
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/934c6776-454e-497f-9b3f-bbdf38ac45f8
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/7d45e537-9eac-4c1d-8d4c-9d846d8909f7
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/7d45e537-9eac-4c1d-8d4c-9d846d8909f7
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/f909783a-e57b-441a-85b2-6ee50e746354
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/346fa88c-62f6-42e1-87da-e82b523a03e9
Information on the reason individual contracts have been cancelled or part cancelled is not published as it is regarded as commercial in confidence.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timetable is for the retrieval of the lost PPE that consultants are looking for.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is incorrect to say that personal protective equipment (PPE) has been lost. In any industry, it is common practice to undertake a stocktake to update records to reflect the amount and value of stock being held.
This stocktake exercise is being undertaken with support from consultants, to ensure that our accounting records are accurate and updated prior to the end of the financial year.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what formal process the Government used to award funding to the Medical Detection Dogs charity as part of the covid-19 response.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No funding award has been made to the Medical Detection Dogs (MDD). Funding for the COVID-19 Detection Dog studies was provided as a grant in line with Test and Trace grant processes to the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine (LSTHM). The LSTHM is leading a research project including the MDD charity and Durham University to determine whether trained dogs can discriminate pre-symptomatic, asymptomatic and mild cases of COVID-19 from uninfected individuals.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a formal application was made for funding awarded by the Government to the Medical Detection Dogs charity as part of the covid-19 response.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A letter of application was sent from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to the Department.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a formal application was made for funding awarded by the Government to the Medical Detection Dogs charity as part of the covid-19 response.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A letter of application was sent from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to the Department.