Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Our plan to rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy, what recent estimate his Department has made of the reproduction rate of covid-19 in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) the North West of England.

We do not currently publish the reproduction (R) rate in each region. The Government Office for Science published the latest R number range for the United Kingdom on 29 May. The current R number range can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-r-number-in-the-uk

The Government is committed to publishing the scientific evidence that has informed the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergency’s (SAGE) advice. These papers are being published in batches. The latest batches were released on 20 May and 22 May and the next batch will published in the coming weeks. The full list of papers released to date is available at the following the link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/scientific-advisory-group-for-emergencies-sage-coronavirus-covid-19-response

This list will be updated to reflect papers considered at recent and future meetings.