Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the document entitled, Review: does the use of face masks in the general population make a difference to spread of infection, that was presented to SAGE on 9 April 2020, if he will (a) publish that review and (b) the evidence for it.

Transparency, including on the evidence informing the views of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), is important in helping to maintain the public’s trust and helping to grow understanding of the disease, while also helping to explain how advice to the Government is being formed. The Government is working to publish evidence documents and studies which have formed the basis of SAGE’s discussions and advice to Ministers regularly and will publish more evidence in the coming weeks.