Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisation has overall responsibility for ensuring that (a) NHS hospitals and (b) other NHS care settings have sufficient personal protective equipment for the winter 2020-21 period.

Everybody working on the front line deserves to have the equipment they need to do their job safely. A significant number of Government departments are working together to make sure that happens. Amid unprecedented global pressures on supply chains over 3.5 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been delivered to frontline workers thanks to the efforts of the Government, the National Health Service, industry and the armed forces to massively scale up distribution networks.

We have significantly strengthened and diversified our supply chains for PPE – looking to new suppliers abroad as well as boosting our domestic manufacturing capability. This has helped to build resilience into the future. We have moved from an emergency situation a few months ago to a stable position, which allows us to prepare for any second spike or a new wave in the autumn or winter.