Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the personal protective equipment stockpiled as part of the preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal have been used during the response to the covid-19 outbreak; and by what date he estimates those stockpiles will be replenished.

The United Kingdom has been an international exemplar in preparedness and our pandemic stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) and vital supplies is considered a very high-quality mark in international terms. At the start of the pandemic, Public Health England already had large stockpiles of PPE as part of its ongoing contingency measures to prepare for an outbreak. There were also supplies of PPE held through the NHS Supply Chain.

The Government has massively expanded both our supply of PPE from overseas and our domestic manufacturing capability and we are confident in the stocks and sources of supply of PPE to meet the needs of health and social care staff over the next seven and 90 days.

The Government has now signed contracts for over 2 billion items of PPE through UK-based manufacturers, ensuring we build and maintain a domestic base for the future.