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.

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.