Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Prime Minister's statement of 11 May 2020, Official Report, column 24 on Covid-19: Strategy, whether it is Government policy that people with (a) asthma, (b) diabetes and (c) other underlying health conditions should be actively encouraged to go to work if they cannot work from home.

There are a number of underlying health conditions including asthma and diabetes that make people clinically vulnerable and increase the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. People in the clinically vulnerable category are advised to stay at home as much as possible and therefore should not be encouraged to go to work.

A full list of the conditions that make people clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 can be found on the Government’s social distancing guidance at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing#businesses-and-venues