Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to use international procurement arrangements for the provision of personal protective equipment at the end of the EU withdrawal transition period.

We have set up a cross-Government personal protective equipment (PPE) sourcing unit to secure new supply lines from across the world and published rigorous standards against which we will buy.

Expert procurement professionals from the NHS Supply Chain have been seconded into this dedicated new unit to work with a cross-Government team of over 400 staff from 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.