NHS: Protective Clothing

(asked on 26th April 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government's PPE strategy will be published.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 9th May 2023

Imported personal protective equipment (PPE) is now provided by suppliers appointed to NHS Supply Chain’s Single Use PPE framework agreement. Suppliers are appointed following a competitive tender process to ensure value for money. Every product on this framework is assessed, involving work with regulators, safety standards agencies and national experts who agree the safety standards and requirements that products must meet in order to be used in the National Health Service.

From April 2022, responsibility for the operational management for retaining a pandemic stockpile of PPE transferred to NHS Supply Chain. Providers of PPE will be invited to become part of the procurement frameworks which NHS Supply Chain manages, and the current framework agreement includes a number of United Kingdom-based companies.

The Government welcomes commitment from UK-based companies to produce high-quality PPE. UK-based manufacturers are likely to be crucial in the event of another pandemic, particularly in the face of any global supply chain issues.

As of 31 March 2023, there were 12 million items of PPE remaining in storage in China. The remaining stock held in China is in categories of PPE for which the Department has sufficient stock in the UK to meet current demand, and the items were therefore surplus to requirements. In managing down the stock held in China we have made donations to other countries, but selling on surplus stock has not been financially viable for the Department. The remaining items now held in China are therefore being disposed of through incineration, with the aim of enabling an exit from this facility as soon as possible.

The Department wrote to the Public Accounts Committee on 16 March 2023 setting out strategic aims for the Department in relation to PPE, including future supply.
The letter is available at the following link:

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/34476/documents/189909/default/

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