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.

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.