Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of enabling mobile hairdressers to work during the covid-19 outbreak.

In order to reduce social contact, the Government has ordered non-essential businesses to close, this includes hairdressers and barbers. The nature of the industry involves close contact and it would not be possible for hairdressers to adhere to social distancing measures.

These remain closed, because the risk of transmission in these environments is higher due to the indoor environment and closer physical contact.

On 11^th May we published our COVID-19 recovery strategy, which sets out a roadmap to a phased recovery. Over the coming months, Government will introduce a range of adjustments to current social distancing controls, timing these carefully according to both the current spread of the virus and the Government’s ability to ensure safety. Each step may involve adding new adjustments to the existing restrictions or taking some adjustments further.

The ambition to reopen hairdressers is part of Step 3 of the roadmap and we will work with the sector to develop safe ways for them to open at the earliest point at which it is safe to do so.

We continue to work with stakeholders on developing sensible guidance for businesses that will give UK workers the utmost confidence on their return to work. We will now focus on sectors that are not currently open to help them plan for when they can open.