Question reference: S6W-02930
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 14 September 2021
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Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 September 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many local supply chains have been developed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer
At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government and partners began rapid, ground breaking joint work with the Scottish manufacturing sector to build resilient local supply chains.
The Scottish Parliament and people have been updated on the success of our efforts to develop local supply chains through our PPE Action Plan and Ministerial statements I made on PPE and other critical supplies, the COVID vaccine and test, treatment and cures being developed and manufactured in Scotland.
This work ultimately ensured we had adequate stocks of all Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) items, ventilation equipment, sanitiser, testing kits and vaccines to support our front line services and protect the public during the emergency period.
From a starting position of almost all PPE having to be imported, over the 2020/21 winter period nearly half of all PPE supplied to NHS Scotland was manufactured in Scotland. While we do not hold a central definitive supplier list, some key examples of Scottish suppliers who responded to our COVID -19 supply chain initiative are listed in the following table.
New Local Supply Chains | |
Product/Service | Supplier |
Viral Transport Medium | E&O Laboratories, West Lothian |
Rapid Covid tests | LuniraDX, West Lothian |
COVID Test Assembly | Sykes Global Assembly, Borders |
PPE – face masks and clothing | Alpha Solway, Dumfries |
PPE – plastic aprons | Berry BPI, Greenock |
PPE – non sterile gowns | Keela, Glenrothes |
PPE – non sterile gowns | Don & Low, Forfar |
PPE – face masks | Honeywell, Newhouse |
Lighthouse Laboratory | Thermo Fisher Scientific, Perth and Glasgow |
Work is already underway to build on the success of the new supply chains created in Scotland through our Supply Chains Development Programme with the ambition of improving the capacity, capability and development of Scottish supply chains. The programme spans sectors where we see genuine sustainable economic potential to grow Scottish supply chains and we are exploring how we can better leverage Scotland’s annual £13 billion public sector procurement spend, by working with the Enterprise Agencies and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, to build resilient strategic supply chains. The current focus of the programme is on: opportunities to increase the use of Scottish timber in construction; increased Scottish manufacturing and installation of heat pumps; maximising Scottish manufactured components in new green and blue Hydrogen supply infrastructure and the products and vehicles that will use it; and opportunities in generic medicines and with the wider Scottish Health Industry Partnership.