Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many complaints his Department has received from companies complaining that they were unable to get the attention of officials with respect to the supply personal protective equipment from February 2020 to August 2020; and if he will make a statement.
We rapidly processed over 24,000 offers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from over 15,000 suppliers who approached the National PPE Sourcing team via the online portals the Government established in March 2020. The webform ensured that offers of support were recorded effectively and taken forward as necessary.
Offers were triaged and those which could potentially deliver significant quantities of high-quality PPE quickly were prioritised. All offers then went into exactly the same Technical Assurance, Closing (i.e. contract negotiation) and Procurement (i.e. contract award) process, managed by officials. This process led to the award of 339 contracts by the Department of Health and Social Care. A high number of offers were rejected at different stages of being taken through this process for different reasons.