Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing shielding for the clinically extremely vulnerable who work in (a) retail, (b) health and social care, (c) education and (d) other public-facing roles.

Shielding was paused on 1 August 2020 in England, however, it is important that clinically extremely vulnerable people continue to take extra care, particularly as infection rates rise again. On 13 October, the Government published new guidance to the clinically extremely vulnerable that advises additional things they are advised to do to keep themselves safe at each local COVID alert level.

While the previous shielding advice helped protect those most at risk from COVID-19, we acknowledge that many people found this advice very restrictive. The new protective guidance to the clinically extremely vulnerable is designed to offer practical and proportionate advice to help people protect themselves and minimise the need to introduce restrictive shielding advice.