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 31 January 2023 to Question 120948 on Unispace Global: Contracts, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the reasons cited for the novation of PPE contracts from Unispace Global Ltd to Sante Global LLP.

Legal advice was not sought by the Department on the change in legal structure of the counterparties to the contracts nor of the potential tax implications of the novation of the contracts as this did not affect the terms of the contracts, including the payments to be made by the Department or the supply of products to the Department.

Under the change of structure, Unispace Global Ltd was acquired by Unispace Health Products LLP, which changed its name to Sante Global LLP shortly afterwards. A novation agreement was entered into to change the counterparty to the contracts, where the new counterparty agreed to perform all of the present and future obligations of the contracts.