Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the contact details for a team in his Department that companies able to supply large quantities of PPE from abroad can use to explain what PPE products they are able to supply; and if he will take steps to ensure that those companies receive a timely response.

The Government’s Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) plan was published on 10 April and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-personal-protective-equipment-ppe-plan

As Strand 3 details, we have set up a cross-Government PPE sourcing unit to secure new supply lines from across the world and a call to industry has been issued to companies at home to manufacture and supply additional PPE at scale.

All offers to supply PPE must be made through the United Kingdom Government’s online portal:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-support-from-business

All offers will receive an immediate automated response and then follow up contact once the team have assessed the offer.