Coronavirus

Rob Butler Excerpts
Monday 9th March 2020

(4 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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The advice around school trips is to follow the Foreign Office travel advice—so, as of this weekend, not to take a school trip to north Italy, and otherwise to follow the travel advice.

Rob Butler Portrait Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)
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As a former journalist, I know the temptations of a dramatic headline, but does my right hon. Friend agree that in this case there is an onus on the media to report responsibly and not engage in scaremongering?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I strongly agree. I would say that largely the media have been responsible, but there have been a couple of exceptions. I hope that the media play their part in this national effort in reporting the facts and what the Government are thinking of doing, especially with the transparency that we are providing, but do so responsibly and thoughtfully as to the consequences of the way that this virus is portrayed.