Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the scientific basis is for the decision to close station waiting rooms rather than allow the partial use of the facilities with social distancing measures in place.

In the Government guidance to transport operators, there is no explicit ask for rail operators to close waiting rooms. However, it does ask for measures to be put in place to support social distancing e.g. by “rearranging, limiting or removing seating to try and ensure social distancing is observed” The ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): Safer transport – guidance for operators’ can be found at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/884370/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-transport-guidance-for-operators.pdf