Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what checks are in place to ensure self-isolation at home is being carried out fully and correctly.

Self-isolation following a positive Covid test is one of the most important things we can do to help stop the spread of the virus and protect our friends and family, our community and the NHS. Following a report of non-compliance by a member of the public and if considered appropriate, the police are empowered to issue fixed penalty notices for failure to self-isolate.

Separate isolation requirements also apply to individuals returning to England from an amber-list country. Those self-isolating at home may receive daily phone calls from the Isolation Assurance and Compliance service (IAC), to ensure that they are complying with their duty to self-isolate.

Additionally, a service run by my department will through contractors carry out a number of in-person checks on amber-list arrivals to ensure compliance. The service has the capacity to deliver up to 10,000 checks a day.

If an individual is found to be non-compliant with their duty to self-isolate, then staff from the service may refer individuals to the case to the police who have the power to take law enforcement action and issue Fixed Penalty Notices.