Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support the hearing impaired community whose ability to communicate may be affected by the introduction of mandatory face masks in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government has announced that from Friday 24 July, members of the public must wear a face covering when visiting a shop or supermarket in England. Guidance on how to wear and remove a face covering was published online on 14 July. In addition, the Government is running a major proactive communications campaign on face coverings to alert the public where they are now required to wear face coverings and educate the public on how to correctly wear one.

Legitimate reasons for not wearing a mask include if they are travelling with or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip reading to communicate or if they are not able to put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability. People will be able to remove their face covering if speaking with people who rely on lip reading, facial expressions or clear sound to communicate.