Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the guidance on shielding in England and Wales.

The Government has set up the Shielding Behavioural Survey to monitor whether the clinically extremely vulnerable population in England who had been advised to shield were following shielding guidance and to collect other information such as support that helps this group continue shielding, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental health and wellbeing and changes in their mental and physical health.

The survey was produced in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Work and Pensions, Government Digital Service and Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS has published two reports for the periods: 9 June to 18 June 2020, published at 29 June 2020 and 28 May to 3 June 2020, published at 15 June 2020.

As health is a devolved issue, shielding guidance in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Government.