Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 May 2023 to Question 186059 on Protective Clothing, if he will withdraw the recommendation for patients to wear face coverings in the absence of a cost-benefit analysis.

The Department’s recommendations regarding protective clothing and patient health are informed by a wealth of evidence and literature, sometimes including, but not limited to, cost-benefit analyses.

The recommendations in NHS England’s National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM) regarding the use of face masks is informed by a literature review conducted by ARHAI Scotland, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nipcm.hps.scot.nhs.uk/media/2113/2022-01-06-surgical-masks-sicps-and-tbps-v20-final.pdf

As set out in the United Kingdom’s five year national action plan for tackling antimicrobial resistance, NHS England’s National Infection Prevention and Control Team is currently undertaking literature reviews to support the NIPCM. While this process is on-going, the scientific and epidemiological data and literature remain under constant review.