The Covid-19 public health crisis has raised significant challenges in meeting the rapidly increasing needs of our health and social care services. The response of the Government, our agencies and partners, and the Scottish business community has been crucial in overcoming those challenges.
This afternoon, I will summarise the Government’s supply chain programme, the collaborative actions that we have taken to address potential shortages and the challenges and opportunities that remain. By quoting examples of Scottish businesses, I will illustrate the tremendous progress that has been made—in a matter of only weeks—in meeting demand, building resilience, reshoring activity and enhancing self-sufficiency.
Although we will continue to source from global supply chains, our dependence on them for key product lines—and, therefore, our exposure to global pressures and price volatility—has greatly decreased. I hope that that outcome commands the support of all parties.
Of course, we can go further. As innovation minister, my particular commitment is to support the national health service and Scottish businesses to harness the power of innovation to meet future health service needs and enhance economic recovery. I will say more about that theme towards the end of my statement.
The Covid-19 pandemic is one of the greatest public health challenges that our society has faced. The scale of it risked overwhelming NHS capacity and the ability of supply chains to respond. As the severity and spread of the pandemic became clear, three things were quickly apparent: global demand for equipment, including personal protective equipment, had risen exponentially; sources of supply had dried up; and trade barriers had increased.
As movement restrictions and lockdowns were imposed in China and other major centres of production, usual supply chains faltered. At the same time, as passenger flights were curtailed and planes grounded, the capacity to move international freight by air dwindled rapidly.
In Scotland, NHS forecasts indicated that we would need to source huge quantities of PPE and medical equipment such as ventilators, hand sanitiser and swab tests to keep pace with surging demand. Faced with that scenario, we chose a strategy that was designed to deliver results—a considered and selective approach. We have directed all our efforts and resources into finding new, dependable sources of supply, internationally and at home.
It is also useful to consider things that we chose not to do: when faced with warnings that supplies would soon be gone or prices hiked, we did not rush into accepting unverified offers; we have not dealt through layers of brokers or taken offers that yield small quantities; and, most important, we have not cut corners or let our quality standards slip. Instead, our choice was to assemble a multi-agency team to identify rapidly those offers of support that could supply us with high volumes of approved products in the fastest possible times and, in parallel, to work with businesses to grow Scottish capacity to produce key products and build resilience.
The procurement and technical expertise of the NHS, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland have been harnessed to buy products of the right standards, in the right quantities and in the right timescales. That multi-agency team has worked tirelessly to support the NHS and I offer my thanks to them all. Their efforts are well reflected in the on-going achievements of the programme.
I will give some examples of where we have built resilience and are moving towards self-sufficiency, including several new domestic supply chains that have been established in record time. A supply chain for hand sanitiser has been created from scratch. Production at CalaChem in Grangemouth, using spirit from Scottish distillers and Scottish bottling capacity, can satisfy all current health and social care needs in Scotland.
A supply chain has been established to produce non-sterile gowns for the NHS. Don & Low of Forfar is producing enough base fabric to make 1 million non-sterile gowns for NHS Scotland. That will satisfy more than half of our NHS and social care requirements in Scotland. Keela in Glenrothes and Transcal and Endura of Livingston are among the firms converting that raw material into gowns and shipping them to our front-line services.
Across a range of other product lines, Scottish businesses are benefiting from a stream of NHS orders and improving our self-sufficiency. From the start of June, Berry BPI in Greenock and Dumfries will produce 2 million aprons per week as part of an order for more than 100 million aprons for NHS Scotland. That order alone meets around 40 per cent of our NHS and social care demand.
The picture for visors is even better. Alpha Solway of Annan—which I heard on “Good Morning Scotland” this morning—is producing 1.1 million visors for the NHS at a rate of 20,000 per day, which more than meets current Scottish demand. I can also announce that we have successfully created a manufacturing supply chain for masks using product from Don & Low and the manufacturing expertise of Alpha Solway. Backed by a significant NHS order and support from Scottish Enterprise, Alpha Solway is about to commence manufacturing FFP3 face masks, the type that is worn in intensive care, with newly installed machinery. The company has more machinery arriving next month to increase its production capacity still further. Once it is fully up and running, the new plant will be capable of producing 5 million masks per week, which is well above NHS Scotland’s demand, so it will create export potential. What is more, the company expects to create at least 50 more jobs in total in the coming months in Dumfries and Annan, with 30 of those already filled.
That adds to the recent announcement by Honeywell at Newhouse that it will manufacture 70 million masks for use across the United Kingdom. Scotland’s production of PPE is building self-sufficiency, creating jobs and opening export opportunities.
Beyond sanitiser and PPE, many businesses are repurposing their facilities to support the NHS and meet its needs. For example, Scottish Enterprise is supporting two manufacturers as part of work led by Babcock International to design and produce new ventilators under the UK ventilator challenge initiative. Plexus and Raytheon will support the production of ventilators from their Kelso, Livingston and Glenrothes manufacturing facilities.
Those many achievements are of course just a snapshot of the supply chain programme and the wider business response to Covid-19. All members of the Parliament will know of companies large and small in their areas that have put their shoulder to the wheel. We will continue to highlight more examples of that work as we grow our domestic capabilities.
Of course, while we were building up our domestic supply chains, there was an urgent need to secure huge volumes of PPE from international sources to meet the immediate demands of our front-line services. In recent weeks, and despite the international difficulties I mentioned, we have brought in seven charter flights, delivering more than 64 million face masks, 130,000 reusable gowns, 120,000 test kits and 1,300 infusion pumps, with more to follow. Much-needed ventilators and oxygen concentrators have arrived from the United States and China, and, in the spirit of mutual aid and assistance, our flights have carried cargoes for the NHS in Wales, plus donations free of charge for Scottish charities.
Our international sourcing has been assisted greatly by Scottish Government and Scottish Development International teams that are based in the overseas hubs. Their local knowledge, connections and expertise have been invaluable in qualifying international companies, checking certificates and export licences and making factory visits. I take this opportunity to thank them, on behalf of us all, for their work.
As the pandemic and our response to it evolve, other opportunities to build resilience present themselves. Through our test supply chain group, and engagement with the Life Sciences Scotland industry leadership group, work has started to examine the role that Scotland can play in the manufacture of vaccines when they become available.
We can also start to think about emerging themes and lessons. Our future systems must be more resilient, adaptable and sustainable. Covid-19 has exposed vulnerabilities and highlighted core strengths. One positive side-effect has been an upsurge in innovative thinking about new ways of remote working, distance monitoring devices, new technologies for decontamination, enhanced protection from airborne virus particles, automation, the circular economy and service redesign.
The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland has worked to respond to many hundreds of companies that offered to help with manufacturing for the NHS, speaking to more than 400 that offered support, and continuing to work with many of those, alongside its own research and engineering community, which has generated many additional proposals.
“I want Scotland to be the inventor and producer of the innovations that shape the future—not just a consumer of them.”
Those were the words of our First Minister in the era before Covid-19, but never have they been more relevant than they are now, as we work our way through the crisis.
Thankfully, as the peak of the pandemic subsides, we see that actions taken by this Government, the NHS and—very important—by the public and businesses have helped to curb the worst potential impacts and boosted our capacity to respond. A huge amount has been achieved at unprecedented speed to source critical medical supplies and equipment. I congratulate Scottish business and public services on their fantastic efforts, rising to the occasion and supporting the national effort.
I have painted a picture of the future: of how we are supporting innovation, building self-sufficiency and putting Scotland at the forefront of supply chain resilience, now and in the future.