Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that due diligence is undertaken on personal protective equipment public procurement contracts with companies based outside the UK.
The Government has set up a personal protective equipment (PPE) sourcing unit to secure new supply lines from across the world and has published rigorous standards for procurement. Expert procurement professionals from the National Health Service supply chain have been seconded into this dedicated new unit to work with the Government Commercial function. This unit is identifying PPE suppliers from across the globe to meet the increasing demand for a growing list of PPE products.