I was pleased to highlight the success of the UK Government in procuring, securing and delivering PPE during the crucial first wave of Covid-19 last year. It's important to recognise that the High Court judgement in question made no comment on the awarding of contracts and there is nothing to suggest that they were not properly awarded. We acted swiftly to ensure that essential equipment got to frontline staff at nursing homes and medical establishments, protecting those heroically leading the response to the pandemic. My contribution can be found below:
When I reflect on my inbox from nearly a year ago, I remember that my constituents were expressing huge anxiety about access to personal protective equipment in nursing homes and medical establishments, so will my hon. Friend accept the thanks of my constituents for having acted so swiftly to ensure that the necessary essential equipment got where it needed to be? Does he share my frustration that that success is being overshadowed by the frankly dubious attempts to muck-rake in respect of the process that was undertaken?
The equipment was procured, it was secured and it was delivered. It did what we would all have wished it to do: it went to the frontline to protect people and to ensure that hospitals and trusts did not run out of PPE at that crucial point in the first wave. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight what I believe the British public would have wished to see us doing, which was focusing on getting the PPE to those who needed it as fast as we could in that crisis.
