Contributions
959 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI have given way to the hon. Lady once already, as I promised I would, and I have been generous with my time, so I will not give way again.06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI am grateful for this opportunity to come to the House to talk about our vital national efforts on personal protective equipment. Colleagues must cast their minds back to where…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI will come on to many of the points the hon. Gentleman has raised, but I will just say this about UK supply chains. At the beginning of the pandemic, only 1% of PPE used in the…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsThere were lots of words there, and lots of aggression. [ Interruption. ] Let us be frank, there was. I will address many of those points. I fear the hon. Gentleman forgets the…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsThe hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull East (Karl Turner) will know that civil servants had to take decisions about speed, pace and quantity. They were looking at contracts that…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI said I will, and I will. The efforts of civil servants secured billions of items and, by June 2020, we had obtained 30,000 ventilators and delivered more than 17.5 billion items…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. Under those circumstances, in those conditions, we had to be quick and decisive to protect colleagues on the frontline so that they could…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI am keen not to get into a political slanging match on this point, but my hon. Friend is right that all Members on both sides of the House were receiving multiple emails from…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsNo. I will come to civil servants in a moment.06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI have given way equally to both sides so far in this debate. I have some reluctance to give way to Members who tell others to sit down while they are speaking or making…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI am pleased that the hon. Lady made that intervention, because it is the first I have heard of such an accusation being made. If she has evidence of such, I suggest that she…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI promise I will come to the hon. Lady. Those 400 civil servants working on PPE and a senior accounting officer took decisions at pace and under huge pressure, as lives depended…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI will come to that. As I said, due diligence was carried out on all companies. Procurement decisions were taken by civil servants. Financial accountability sat with a senior…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI thank the hon. Lady for that response, and I know the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will soon begin that dialogue with her.06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI have given way once before—06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsThank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI also gave way to the hon. Gentleman, so let us leave it. We should be proud of the remarkable progress we have made on PPE. We are now confident that we have enough stock to…06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE Contractsrose —06 Dec 2022HANSARD Government PPE ContractsI will quickly update the House. As of October, we hold 13.1 billion items of PPE and we have disposed of 145,000 pallets of excess stock so far. The majority is stored in UK…06 Dec 2022HANSARDDraft Dentists, Dental Care Professionals, Nurses, Nursing Associates and Midwives (International Registrations) Order 2022I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Dentists, Dental Care Professionals, Nurses, Nursing Associates and Midwives (International Registrations) Order 2022.…06 Dec 2022