Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce an exemption to the existing covid-19 regulations to clarify what (a) contact and (b) travel is permitted between a non-cohabiting couple in England, in circumstances where the couple (i) cannot live together and (ii) live in households with other people.

If a non-cohabiting couple fulfil the eligibility criteria for a support bubble, they have the choice to form a bubble and can then travel and have contact with each other during this national lockdown. If both partners live with other people, they will not be able to form a support bubble. This is because the formation of a support bubble and therefore the ability to have close contact with those they do not live with, carries transmission risks. As such the eligibility criteria is necessarily limited to smaller households most at risk of isolation.
The Government keeps the social contact restrictions under continual review and will make changes as and when the data and science supports it.