Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will undertake a review of how NHS procurement rules could be changed to benefit domestic manufacturing of personal protective equipment.
Lord Deighton is leading the Government effort to unleash the potential of British industry to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE) for the health and social care sectors. This will build on the manufacturing opportunities the Government has already identified and contribute to the national effort to meet the unprecedented demand. The Government is also working to support the scale-up of engineering efforts for small companies capable of contributing to supplies. The Government have now signed contracts for over 2 billion items of PPE through United Kingdom-based manufacturers, including aprons, facemasks, visors, gowns and aprons, ensuring we build and maintain a domestic base for the future.