Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether covid-19 infections and hospitalisations among people who have been offered but refused to accept a covid-19 vaccine will be included in the data when deciding whether to ease restrictions on 19 July 2021.

The move to Step 4 will be based on the four tests outlined in the roadmap. The first of these tests - that the vaccine deployment programme continues successfully - will consider vaccine coverage across regions and demographics and ethnicity groups. The third of these tests - that infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS - looks at data on hospital admissions, patients in hospitals, and their vaccines status, in order to assess the likely pressure on the NHS in coming months.

The Delta variant is already driving the growth we are seeing in infection rates and hospitalisations, and at the same time non-COVID emergency demand on the NHS is the highest it has been since the start of the pandemic. The Government has consistently followed the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advice on vaccine deployment. We have implemented a range of initiatives to drive vaccine uptake, and to mitigate the impact of the Delta variant in areas of concern. Data on the number of COVID-19 vaccinations provided by the NHS in England can be accessed here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations.