Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral contribution of 12 October 2020, Official Report, column 33, for what reason Halton local authority area is and (b) other local authority areas with (i) higher and (ii) similar rates of covid-19 infection are not subject to Tier 3 restrictions.

Decisions about the appropriate alert level in each area will be made by the Government based on the best available science using the existing Bronze, Silver and Gold process.

The Contain Framework and the Joint Biosecurity Centre closely monitor the data and the spread of the virus across local areas, providing advice and recommendations on areas of intervention to Ministers.