Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 2 August (HL128), whether they will now collect information centrally about the personal protective equipment (PPE) procured centrally;  and what is their estimate of (1) the “disproportionate cost” of collecting information about the companies involved in the supply chain, and (2) the total combined cost to public funds of PPE and lateral flow devices.

While information on personal protective equipment (PPE) is published on the Government’s Contracts Finder service, there are currently no plans to collect or publish data on sub-contractors and intermediaries.

Collating the information requested would involve detailed analysis of 339 individual contracts and detailed re-validation of purchase order and invoice data. This would exceed the disproportionate cost of £850.

The total spend for PPE during the financial year 2020/21 was £14.7 billion, which included the costs of freight, logistics and warehousing. The total cost of lateral flow devices is not held in the format requested.