Covid Contracts: Judicial Review

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:34 pm on 24 February 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Edward Argar Edward Argar Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care) 12:34, 24 February 2021

My hon. Friend highlights the work of his fantastic hospital at Northwick Park and the fact, which I alluded to in response to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, that while we did not run out of PPE nationally, there were some real challenges at a number of sites. They did an amazing job to ensure that they had the PPE they needed. I believe the minimum time it can take to run a tender is around a month, and I certainly would not have wished to see us not utilising regulation 32 and waiting a month to order and secure the PPE that his hospital and those working in it needed.