Cabinet Office

Tuesday 26th April 2022 Ministerial Corrections

Covid-19 Contracts

The following is an extract from Cabinet Office Questions on 31 March 2022.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

PPE was needed immediately. It was obviously right to order more than was necessary—that was fundamental. At the beginning of the pandemic, nobody knew precisely how much would be needed, but we knew we needed supplies. The Government succeeded in getting domestic production, excluding gloves, up from 1% to 70%. [Official Report, 31 March 2022, Vol. 711, c. 969.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, the right hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg):

An error has been identified in the response I gave to the hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Neale Hanvey).

The correct response should have been:

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

PPE was needed immediately. It was obviously right to order more than was necessary—that was fundamental. At the beginning of the pandemic, nobody knew precisely how much would be needed, but we knew we needed supplies. The Government succeeded in getting domestic production capacity, excluding gloves, up to 82% of forecast need for winter 2020.