Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to coordinate a public health awareness campaign using local newspaper outlets during the outbreak of covid-19.

The Government recognises that news publishers, including local newspaper outlets, have a vital role to play in ensuring the provision of reliable, high-quality information to citizens during the current COVID-19 crisis. The need for independent, verifiable news and information is more essential than ever. The design and implementation of a public health awareness campaign is for the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care to decide. However, the Government is clear that getting reliable information out to the public on this issue is a priority and that newspapers provide one of the vehicles for doing so.