Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the level of covid-19 infection risk from non-mask wearing in the hospitality sector; and what steps he plans to take to manage that risk.
Answered by Maggie Throup
No estimate has been made. However, in deciding whether to mandate the wearing of face coverings in hospitality settings, the Government considered health, economic, societal and practical issues and concluded that it was impractical to require people to remove their face covering in settings primarily used for eating and drinking. To mitigate this risk, we continue to recommend that people wear face coverings in indoor settings, even where not mandated and to receive their primary or booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2022 to Question 87696 on Protective Clothing: Coronavirus, if he will list the number of sites where unused personal protective equipment is being stored, by county.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is shown in the following table.
Location | Number of facilities |
Durham | 3 |
Essex | 2 |
Leicestershire | 4 |
Greater Manchester | 1 |
Staffordshire | 1 |
Stirlingshire | 1 |
South Yorkshire | 2 |
Suffolk | 5 |
Warwickshire | 1 |
West Yorkshire | 2 |
Shanghai | 1 |
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2021 to Question 81017 on Coronavirus: Protective Clothing, on what grounds this information has been deemed to be commercially sensitive.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information is considered commercially sensitive as the Department is currently engaged in a mediation process with PPE Medpro concerning their products, which involves confidentiality undertakings.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 11 November 2020, Official Report, column 1022, regarding the production of PPE in the UK, what was the percentage of PPE produced in the UK in the most recent month for which figures are available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is not available in the format requested. However, of 36.4 billion items ordered by 6 December 2021, 3.9 billion were ordered from United Kingdom manufacturers.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much personal protective equipment (PPE) the Government has purchased that has not been used as a result of being (a) unwanted and (b) unusable since 1 January 2020; what the total cost is of that PPE; and what the daily cost is of storing that PPE.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The personal protective equipment (PPE) programme has ordered over 36.4 billion items since March 2020. Of this, approximately 3.4 billion units are currently identified as potential excess stock. The estimated purchase price for those items is £2.2 billion.
In addition, a total of 6.96 billion items are not currently provided to frontline services. This can be for a variety of reasons, including new stock that has not yet cleared assurance processes or where a different product is preferred. Of these, 1.2 billion items are deemed to be not fit for use. The purchase price for these items was £458 million. Data on the specific storage costs is not held in the format requested. However, on 13 December 2021 weekly storage costs for all stock was £4.5 million.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the total value of personal protective equipment that was procured during the covid-19 outbreak but expired before use.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There are approximately 303 million items of personal protective equipment which have passed their estimated expiry date at a total purchase cost of £299 million.
However, in many cases recorded expiry dates refer to the original documentation or assumed life of the product when it was delivered. We are currently exploring whether these expiry dates can be extended to allow the products to be used.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 December to Question 78415 on Coronavirus: Protective Clothing, when his Department plans to complete the comprehensive review of stock.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department is undertaking a comprehensive review of stock to determine the efficacy of equipment before it is distributed. This review is ongoing and will consider new stock as it continues to arrive, therefore we are unable to provide a completion date. However, as of 6 December, we had assessed approximately 87% of current stock.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the sites that have been used by the Government or its agents for the purpose of storing unused personal protective equipment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are unable to provide the location of storage facilities as this information is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the allocated expenditure is by the Government or its agents on the rental of storage space to store unused personal protective equipment in the 2021-22 financial year.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information is not available in the format requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who is responsible for the enforcement of the wearing of face coverings in supermarkets and shops.
Answered by Maggie Throup
There is a legal requirement for in-scope businesses, including shops, to display signage to inform the public that face coverings are mandated in their premises, unless they are exempt from wearing them or have a reasonable excuse. Staff should remind people of the requirement to wear a face covering, but this should not result in anyone having to prove that they have an exemption or reasonable excuse. If necessary, police and police community support officers can issue a fixed penalty notice to anyone who does not comply without a valid exemption or reasonable excuse.