Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans Public Health England has to update the guidance published on 6 April 2020 entitled Covid-19 infection prevention and control to include the aerosol generating procedures undertaken by speech and language therapists.

The evidence around aerosol generating procedures is being kept under review; the evidence review is led by Public Health Scotland.

This guidance has been written and reviewed by all four United Kingdom public health bodies and informed by National Health Service infection prevention control experts. It is based on Health Protection Scotland evidence reviews and the evidence and reviews have been endorsed by New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). A rapid evidence appraisal has been conducted by Health Protection Scotland to assess the risk of patient to healthcare worker infection transmission associated with a wide range of potentially aerosol generating medical procedures. An updated evidence review and the position on the presented evidence review from NERVTAG is awaited.