Oral Answers to Questions

Neale Hanvey Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Douglas Ross]

As I said in my opening remarks, the UK Government are committed to ensuring that we work as a United Kingdom, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has taken a lead on this issue to ensure that that can happen. I have had regular discussions with Donald Macaskill of Scottish Care about PPE, but also about the outstanding work that our care workers are doing in care homes and around the community across Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom; they deserve our praise for what they are doing.

[Neale Hanvey (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) (Ind)]

What steps he is taking to ensure the equitable distribution of imported personal protective equipment to Scotland.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Douglas Ross)]

We are working closely with the devolved nations to ensure that supplies of PPE, both domestic and imported, are distributed equally across the four nations. As I mentioned in my previous response, we are also working to ensure that different parts of the UK do not compete against one other when procuring PPE internationally.

[Neale Hanvey [V]]

Despite the England-only designation of some PPE imports, the grassroots medical association EveryDoctor has been collating a range of data on PPE availability, and anecdotal evidence suggests that the Scottish Government’s system of procurement and distribution of PPE for Scotland’s NHS has been more efficient and effective from its perspective than that experienced by frontline medical staff in the English NHS. Can the Minister advise the House of what discussions he has had—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think we’ve got the question. I call the Minister.