Fashion Roundtable works to secure 70% UK-made PPE
15th October 2020
On the 28th September, the Department of Health and Social Care announced plans for a huge increase in UK-made personal protective equipment (PPE). Thanks to the lobbying efforts of Fashion Roundtable and other key industry stakeholders, 70 percent of the expected demand for PPE will be met by UK manufacturers from December this year. This will include items such gowns and FFP3 face masks. Fashion Roundtable are extremely proud that the industry has been so pivotal in the national effort to domestically produce PPE, simultaneously by creating hundreds of new jobs and reducing reliance on overseas companies. Before the pandemic, just 1 percent of PPE was produced in the UK.
CEO & Founder of Fashion Roundtable, Tamara Cincik, said: “During lockdown, I spent many hours on calls with the Government and stakeholders, engaging in PPE strategy to best ensure we could map out a solution which led towards a commitment from Number 10 to buy reusable, made in the UK PPE. This is why I welcome the news that the Government is aiming to acquire 70% made in the UK PPE, a massive rise from their current level of 1%. I am still regularly speaking to the Cabinet Office team and will continue to do all that I can to best ensure we can realise this commitment. In a time when due to the pandemic, every job is potentially on the line, the more jobs we can create here in the UK, where we can oversee greater transparency in the supply chain and lead towards a reusable PPE delivery, the better it will be for us, our workforce and the environment.”
Health and Care Secretary Matt Hancock MP said: “At the start of the pandemic, meeting the huge demands for PPE was a massive challenge. That’s why we have worked every day since to ensure we have an uninterrupted supply to meet the challenges in the coming months and protect those who are protecting us. We have built robust and resilient supply chains from scratch and thanks to an absolutely phenomenal effort from UK businesses, almost three quarters of demand for PPE will soon be met by UK manufacturers. As we take every step to combat this virus we are setting out this plan to reassure our health and social care workers that they will have the PPE they need to carry out their tireless work.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson further commented in a live Covid-19 briefing that: "By December, by the way, we expect UK manufacturers will meet 70 percent of the demand for PPE compared with just 1 percent before the pandemic".
The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a bright light on the importance of highly skilled non-UK nationals who work in the garment manufacturing industry. Non-UK nationals account for 32 percent of employees in the textiles, garments and related trades, as highlighted in the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) recent review of the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) for visas. As the Government aims for 70 UK-manufactured PPE by December, the skilled work of those non-UK nationals will be vital as positive cases of Covid-19 soar over the winter period; the MAC has decided to not recommend adding such roles to the SOL.
The decision to not include garment workers on the SOL will inevitably lead to a deficit of skilled workers in the garment manufacturing sector, and current initiatives to skill-up UK nationals, unfortunately, fall short. The T-Level course in Craft & Design is not due to start until September 2023, leaving a skills gap for several fashion seasons between the end of the transition period to the commencement of the relevant T-Level course for the fashion industry.
Fashion Roundtable will continue to advocate to include garment workers on the SOL for visas. Including non-UK nationals of the SOL is paramount to the future of British fashion: it will ensure that there is a supply of skilled workers in order to create PPE and meet Government targets, allow for greater onshoring of UK garment manufacturing as the end of the transition period looms, provide a short-term solution to the skilled workforce deficit, and give the Government greater control and oversight of labour supply chains.
If you or the company you represent would like to talk more on this topic, please contact admin@fashionroundtable.com.
Notes to Editors: Fashion Roundtable Organisation Ltd is our NFP which covers our All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) and policy work. Fashion Roundtable is the leading think tank for the fashion industry, improving people’s lives by influencing policy and outcomes. We collaborate with Government and Parliament, through our APPGs, and across the public, private and third sectors to develop our policy ideas and strategies.
We work across the fashion and textiles industry, technology, innovation, education, skills and sustainability policy. Fashion Roundtable is the Secretariat for the two APPGs which work with the fashion industry, allowing us a pivotal and powerful voice in the intersection between stakeholders and policy. The expertise, authority and credibility of our research and recommendations is key to who we are. Our research is independent and evidence-based and we share our ideas with stakeholders and parliamentarians from all sides of the political spectrum.