Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department has spent on external legal advice to support the personal protective equipment programme since 6 June 2022.

From June 2022 until the end of November 2022, the Department has spent £1,011,431 on external legal advice for matters relating to personal protective equipment (PPE). This includes contract dispute resolution, judicial reviews and PPE legal advice.

At the start of quarter one 2022, examination of contracts where there was some degree of dissatisfaction related to 176 contracts of 394 in total that the Department made. We are on course to recover significant funds through this programme of work.