Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) Marie Curie, (b) Sue Ryder and (c) other hospice care groups have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

We published a personal protective equipment (PPE) plan on 10 April, setting out clear guidance on who needs PPE and in what circumstances they need to use it, how sufficient supplies will be secured and distributed to the front line.

The Government recognises the vital services that hospices provide across the United Kingdom. Distribution routes for PPE are constantly reviewed to strengthen and expand capacity, and efforts are currently being undertaken to boost the service to hospices.

We have provided local resilience forums with supplies of PPE to help them respond to urgent local spikes in need across front-line services, including hospices.

The National Supply Disruption Response exists as an emergency escalation route who handle queries including the supply of PPE as a last resort.