Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate the Government has made of the number of items of personal protective equipment that will be procured for use in the UK by the end of April.

The combined DIT, FCO and DHSC efforts have resulted in DHSC ordering over 28.7 billion items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), direct from new relationships with suppliers in source countries; and to build up UK manufacturing this includes signed contracts to manufacture over 2 billion items of PPE through UK-based manufacturers.

The Government has rapidly processed over 24,000 cases from over 15,000 suppliers to ensure they meet the safety and quality standards that our NHS staff need, as well as prioritising offers of larger volumes. The Government has so far actively engaged with over 99% of the companies that have offered PPE and has contracted with over 175 new suppliers able to deliver at the scale and pace the UK requires.