Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what impact assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of mask wearing being voluntary (a) on public transport and (b) in shops on rates of covid-19 transmission.

The Government’s decision on moving to step four of the roadmap will involve undertaking impact assessments, as part of the duties placed on it by the Public Sector Equality Duty.

We will continue to encourage the wearing of face coverings and highlight that wearing a face covering may still help to reduce risk of transmission.