He will coordinate the end-to-end process of design
through to manufacture, including streamlining the
approvals and procurement process to ensure new
domestic PPE supplies are rapidly approved and get to
where they are needed. The “make” programme will start
to deliver PPE supplies in the next week.
He will also support the scaling up of engineering
efforts for smaller companies capable of contributing
to the wider supply chain.
previously
served as Chief Executive of the London Organising
Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG),
the organisation responsible for planning and
delivering the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. He
also served as Commercial Secretary to HM Treasury from
January 2013 to May 2015.
As part of the comprehensive UK-wide plan to ensure PPE
gets to where it is needed most, unveiled by earlier this month,
Deighton will lead the “make” programme to unleash the
potential of UK industry to scale up domestic PPE
manufacturing.
Health and Social Care Secretary said:
Our response to this global pandemic demands a
national effort. Manufacturers big and small are
already responding to the challenge but we must go
further and faster. I am determined to do everything
I can to get more protective equipment to the NHS
staff who are fighting this virus on the front line.
Just as Lord Beaverbrook spearheaded the wartime
efforts on aircraft production, the appointment of
will bring
renewed drive and focus to coordinate this
unprecedented peacetime challenge.
led the
delivery of the Olympics. Now he will lead a singular
and relentless focus on PPE as the country’s top
manufacturing priority, with the full weight of the
government behind him.
Lord , advisor to
the Secretary of State on PPE said:
Countries around the world face unprecedented demand
for personal protective equipment and this
necessitates an equally unprecedented domestic
manufacturing response.
I look forward to bringing together new partners in
the pursuit of this single goal: to get our dedicated
frontline workers the essential equipment they need.
This effort calls for exceptional teamwork and I am
confident that we, together, will rise to this
challenge.
As part of the national effort to focus the UK’s
manufacturing industry on this immediate challenge, the
government has issued a ‘call to arms’ for industry
partners to make essential PPE that demonstrably meets
our technical specifications. Companies such as
Burberry, Rolls-Royce, McLaren, Ineos and Diageo have
already started work to produce equipment including
gowns, visors and hand hygiene products.
The government is working around the clock to give the
social care sector and wider NHS the equipment and
support they need to tackle this outbreak. As of 16
April 2020, we have delivered almost a billion pieces
of PPE around the country.
Notes to editors
This will be an unpaid position and will work across
the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England,
and other government departments.
