Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capacity in the UK to manufacture personal protection equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 5 May, over 9,000 businesses have contacted the Government with offers of help on supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) which we are now taking forward, with 267 of these relating to the manufacture of PPE for National Health Service and care sectors. These are predominantly United Kingdom-based companies but include a strong representation from multinational companies.

The Department triages all offers to assess their potential to proceed, based upon whether the offer is from a high potential manufacturer who have existing domestic manufacturing capability that can rapidly be re-purposed to support the national effort.

As of 5 May, the Department has entered into contract and placed orders with seven manufacturers to provide PPE products to the NHS and carers, to all regions of the UK. Their volumes will increase in the coming weeks and in addition other suppliers will come on line to supply products.