Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to his Department has been of legal advice given to resolve contractual disputes in regard to personal protective equipment contracts, in particular the cost of (a) external legal advice and (b) consultants.

In 2021/22, the costs of external legal advice to support the personal protective equipment (PPE) programme was £2.5 million, which includes advice relating to the resolution of disputed contracts. This excludes the cost of advice provided by the Government Legal Department. The cost of consultants employed in the PPE programme was £15.2 million, including the costs associated with the resolution of disputed contracts.