Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Helen Whately Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2020 General Committees

[The Minister for Care (Helen Whately)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I., 2020, No.719).

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Elliott.

The regulations were made by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 9 July and came into force on 11 and 13 July. I thank the House for being so flexible in scheduling this debate to allow for timely parliamentary scrutiny. I note that, because of that flexibility, we are debating this statutory instrument before it has been formally cleared by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.

Thanks to an immense national effort to slow the spread of the virus, we have been able to restore some of the freedoms that are cherished by us all. The regulations made on 3 July allow us to do that. They were debated on 16 July, and they committed several sectors to reopen, including hospitality and leisure. They also require some businesses to remain closed, owing to increased transmission risk from covid. However, we continue to ease remaining restrictions as the Government work with the relevant sectors to develop covid-safe practices.

As set out in the Health Secretary’s statement to the House on 16 July, we are moving from blanket national measures to targeted local measures, supported by our NHS test and trace system. Those measures may be implemented on a small scale, such as relating to an individual farm or a factory, but when needed, we may also act on a broader basis, as we did in Leicester. To allow that shift from national to local action, we have provided local authorities with new powers to enable those authorities to put in place local restrictions on individual premises, organised events and access to defined outdoor public spaces under the regulations that came into effect on Saturday. That includes the ability to require premises, events or public spaces to close.

The amendments we are debating allow outdoor facilities at water parks and outdoor swimming pools to reopen from 11 July, and allow the following close-contact services to open from 13 July: nail bars, tanning booths and salons, massage parlours, tattoo parlours, body and skin piercing services, and spas and beauty salons. Guidance has been published for those sectors, outlining how they may open safely. For example, they set out that face treatments should not be offered, although those will be allowed from 1 August, and that indoor pools and gyms within a spa should not open.

Along with the changes to regulations, guidance has been issued on how organised outdoor grassroots team sports and participation events may begin again, and how outdoor performances with an audience may take place. This is an important milestone for our performing artists, who have been waiting patiently in the wings since March.

As the Committee is aware, we have announced plans for future changes. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced that we plan for fitness and dance studios, indoor gyms and sports venue facilities, and indoor swimming pools and water parks to be able to open from 25 July. People will be able to get back to their gyms, indoor swimming pools and leisure centres, and to jump on a spin bike or treadmill for the first time in months.

In addition, the Prime Minister set out that from 1 August, subject to prevalence remaining around or below current levels, we will reopen most remaining leisure settings, namely bowling, skating rinks and casinos, provided they follow covid-secure guidance; enable all close-contact services to resume, including treatments on the face, such as eyebrow threading and make-up applications; restart indoor performances to a live audience, subject to the success of pilots; pilot larger gatherings in venues with a range of sizes of crowds, including in sports stadiums and business events, with a view to a wider reopening later in the autumn; allow exhibition halls and conference centres to reopen; allow small wedding receptions of no more than 30 people; give employers more discretion on how they ensure that employees may work safely; and confirm that the clinically extremely vulnerable will no longer need to follow the advice on shielding. Those are all positive developments.

We continue to follow the science when making those changes so that we ensure that any remaining measures are both proportionate and necessary. That is why some businesses will still need to remain closed from 1 August. They are nightclubs, dancehalls, discotheques and other similar venues; sexual entertainment venues and hostess bars; and indoor play areas, including soft play areas. Those venues are unable to open at this time as they pose an increased risk of transmission, but we continue to work with those sectors to develop and agree safe ways for them to reopen.

As a nation we have made huge strides in getting the virus, which has brought grief to so many, under control. These regulations will help us to keep the virus cornered and to enjoy the summer safely. I am grateful to all parliamentarians for their valuable scrutiny and I commend the regulations to the Committee.

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[Helen Whately]

It is a pleasure to debate the regulations with colleagues, including the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston. I appreciate the tone that he brings to these conversations. I shall respond to some of his points, before bringing my remarks to a conclusion.

I note the hon. Gentleman’s concerns about the process, and particularly its sequencing. However, I will say that I know he also appreciates the importance of our moving cautiously but also quickly to reduce the restrictions on people’s lives—restrictions that limit economic activity and people’s freedoms..

Secondly, the hon. Gentleman talked about the impact of local lockdowns through the demands they may place on local authorities and the impact on local businesses. The Government are mindful of both those things and are working closely with local authorities in places such as Leicester, where a local lockdown has been imposed. Both the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury are also mindful of, and keep under review, what support may be required for local authorities and businesses in those areas that may be affected.

Thirdly, coming to the hon. Gentleman’s point about clarity of messaging and the concerns expressed by the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington that things might be moving too fast for businesses, I will say that certainly businesses in my constituency that have lobbied me as a constituency MP have wanted things to move forward. For instance, I had conversations with the pub sector, which very much wanted to be able to reopen and welcomed when things moved as swiftly as possible on that.

Clearly, there is some balance to be struck between not wanting to issue too much guidance too quickly or change things too quickly and, when it is safe for businesses and activities to restart, moving quickly to enable that to happen, which is in the interests of those businesses and the general public.

[Matt Western]

It was not so much the speed, but the sequencing of it, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston has said, and the consistency of some of the policies announced. That is why he has been trying to make those points over recent weeks. It is through a more open, collaborative approach, with scrutiny from all sides, that things such as the inconsistencies of barbers versus beauty salons would be addressed, and that would be in the best interests of businesses.

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[Helen Whately]

I hear the hon. Gentleman’s point. To address the specific example he gave of barbers versus beauty salons, there were indeed some conversations with colleagues about that, including female colleagues who said, “Hold on, what’s going on here?” The fact is that we know there are additional risks in activities that involve close face-to-face contact for an extended period of time. That was the reason there was sequencing of the easing of restrictions from one to the other. There was a rationale behind those things.

Moving on, the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston brought up questions about wanting to have more access to the scientific guidance and the connection between that and transmission risks. It is absolutely clear that there is indeed some increased risk of transmission as people are able to do more things and are more likely to come into contact with each other. That is the reason why the reduction and easing of restrictions is a step-by-step and cautious process.

Therefore, all these decisions draw on the scientific advice about the risks involved. Overall, there is a cautious approach, because we know we must keep the transmission rates down. That goes hand in hand with careful monitoring across the country of what is happening in each local area so that, should we need to take local action, we are able to do so.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the concern about whether there might be a second peak. I am acutely mindful of the challenges we will face come winter when, in addition to potentially having coronavirus around, we will also have the usual coughs and sneezes and flu, and it will be much harder to tell who might have what, along with people being less likely to be in well-ventilated areas. That is why there is extensive winter planning going on across health and social care to be ready for what comes our way, and also why it is essential that we have effective tracking and monitoring and the ongoing NHS test and trace system running, so that we can limit any onward transmission of the virus and keep it under control. That is essential.

In conclusion, I restate the Government’s commitment to working with Parliament on this. We appreciate that the restrictions have placed a significant strain on individuals. The Government will only continue to impose restrictions that are necessary to protect the public from the spread of coronavirus. We will only make changes when we are confident it is safe to do so, and we remain prepared to reimpose stricter measures should that become necessary. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Elliott, and I commend these regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.