Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department categorises as essential work during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown period; and if he will publish guidance on that matter.

Essential work includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the United Kingdom’s health and social care sector; and those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.