Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of alleged labour abuses by the Malaysian glove maker Supermax; how many products from that company they have purchased; and what was the cost of those purchases.

We will be investigating the claims made against Supermax. We have made strong commitments to eradicate modern slavery from all contracts in the Government’s supply chain. A due diligence process is carried out for all Government contracts and our suppliers are required to follow the highest legal and ethical standards. If they fail to do so, we will remove them from current and future procurements.

In July 2021, we placed an order with Supermax for 135 million gloves at a cost of £7.9 million. Our purchase process includes safeguards to both strengthen due diligence and to terminate a contract should there be substantiated allegations against a provider.