Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a child who is the joint custody of two households can be collected from household one and transported to household two by someone from a third household who is in a support bubble with the residents of household two.

As the regulations and published guidance make clear and under the current restrictions, there are still circumstances in which people are allowed to meet others from outside their household, childcare or support bubble in larger groups, but this should not be for socialising and only for permitted purposes. Permitted purposes include facilitating arrangements where children do not live in the same household as both their parents or guardians.

As such, someone who is in a support bubble with one of the child’s parents or guardians could collect the child from another household in order to transport them to the household of their other parent or guardian. However, they should avoid mixing with the household they are not part of a support bubble with.