Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has assessed the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on levels of loneliness and social isolation.

The Government has been closely monitoring loneliness and social isolation during the Covid-19 outbreak, working with a range of sectors to hear their experiences and learn from their evidence through the government’s new Tackling Loneliness Network.

The impacts of Covid-19 on loneliness are still to be fully seen and the evidence base is still developing. Emerging indications suggest that prevalence of chronic loneliness across the UK population as a whole appears to have remained stable throughout the lockdown period and may have decreased since social distancing measures eased in early June. However, initial analysis of the UCL Covid-19 Social Study has shown that some vulnerable groups (e.g. young people, adults living alone) appeared to be at a heightened risk of chronic loneliness during lockdown.

The Government will continue to monitor the effects of Covid-19 on loneliness and social isolation.