Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure the adequate supply of (a) FFP3 masks and (b) water-repellant gowns for health care staff exposed to aerosol-generating procedures during the covid-19 outbreak.

We are clear frontline staff should have the equipment they need to do their job safely.

Over 2.2 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been delivered to National Health Service and social care staff across England since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak and almost 28 billion items of PPE have been ordered overall from United Kingdom-based manufacturers and international partners to provide a continuous supply in the coming months. Lord Deighton is leading the Government effort by British industry to manufacture PPE.

We are confident in the stocks and sources of supply of PPE to meet the needs of health and social care over the next seven and 90 days including FFP3 masks and water-repellent gowns.

The National Supply Disruption Response operates a 24-hour helpline that can respond to emergency PPE requests.