Question reference: S5W-34958
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 5 February 2021
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Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 February 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many offers of support it has received from companies on matters relating to the COVID-19 pandemic since it began.
Answer
Scottish Ministers issued an appeal to businesses on 22 March 2020 for support in accessing critical health supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitiser, test kits, ventilators and related oxygen equipment. Offers were initially collected through a dedicated Scottish Government mailbox and then via an online portal managed by National Services Scotland (NSS). The NSS portal was closed to new offers on 19 June 2020 due to the stabilisation of health supply chains. At this date, normal procurement processes were resumed.
The total number of offers processed via the Scottish Government mailbox was 2,846 and the total processed via the NHS portal was 2,048. It should be noted that these figures contain duplicate offers which were made via both the mailbox and NHS portal.