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 15 July 2022 to Question 25941 on Department of Health and Social Care: Protective Clothing, if he will make an estimate of the (a) monthly, (b) weekly and (c) daily cost to the public purse of the three billion items of personal protective equipment recorded as held in storage in China.

The current estimated costs for the storage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in China is £2,477,547 per month; £571,742 per week; and £81,454 per day. The use of this storage has avoided costs relating to detention and demurrage which would have been incurred in the United Kingdom. The Department estimates these savings to be in excess of £40 million.