Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential to lift all covid-19 restrictions on social contact on or from 21 June 2021.

In the Government’s Roadmap - ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’ - we set out four steps for easing restrictions. The Government aims to lift social contact limits at Step 4, which will happen no earlier than 21 June.

The dates for these steps are indicative “no earlier than” dates, which are five weeks apart and wholly contingent on the data and subject to change. Before moving to Step 4 and lifting legal social contact limits, the Government will examine the impact of the previous Step 3 and the four tests:

• The vaccine deployment programme continues successfully

• Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated

• Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS

• Our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new Variants of Concern.