Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to to Answer of 10 June 2020 to Question HL3357, how many new supply lines have been secured by the cross-Government personal protective equipment sourcing unit.

The combined Department for International Trade, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department of Health and Social Care efforts have resulted in the Department of Health and Social Care raising Purchase orders for over 17.7 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE); direct from new relationships in source countries, as well as through trusted United Kingdom suppliers to the National Health Service, who themselves are using their global connections to help us. The Government has rapidly processed over 23,000 cases from over 15,000 suppliers to ensure they meet the safety and quality standards that NHS staff need, as well as prioritising offers of larger volumes. The Government has so far actively engaged with over 99% of the companies that have offered PPE and has contracted with over 150 new suppliers able to deliver at the scale and pace the UK requires. Additionally, the Government is building up UK manufacturing with signed contracts to manufacture over 2 billion items of PPE through UK-based manufacturers.