Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answers of 10 January 2022 to Questions 97125 and 98324, whether the estimate of 6.96 billion items that are not provided to frontline services includes the 303 million items of personal protective equipment which have passed their estimated expiry date.

The process of assuring and managing the stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) is ongoing, therefore this data is updated on a regular basis. The data recorded on 6 December 2021 showed 6.96 billion not currently provided to frontline services.

On 6 December, the number of items with an estimated expiry date earlier than December 2021 had been revised to 542 million. Of these items, 187 million are categorised as items not currently being provided to the frontline. The remaining items are either still undergoing checks or would be available for use if required.