Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2022 to Question 145886, on Randox Laboratories: Contracts, on how many contracts for supply of personal protective equipment his Department has carried out international price benchmarking since October 2020.

Since October 2020, all new purchases of personal protection equipment have been made under NHS Supply Chain framework contracts, which are let and managed by the Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL), rather than directly by the Department. Purchases have been made for gloves, FFP3 masks and aprons. Competitive pricing is a key part of any tender evaluation that SCCL undertake prior to the award of framework contracts, which are compliant with Public Contract Regulations.