Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he overruled the advice of the Chief Medical Officer on removing local restrictions due to the covid-19 outbreak in parts of the Bradford District.

The Joint Biosecurity Centre’s contain framework outlines how the process for national decision-making works. The Chief Medical Officer chairs the Silver Committee. The remit of this group is to “assess the latest national and local epidemiological picture” and “review and evaluate local outbreak responses and consider further action or escalation”. The Gold Committee chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is the decision-making body and the Chief Medical Officer is a permanent member of this group. More information the process is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/containing-and-managing-local-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreaks/covid-19-contain-framework-a-guide-for-local-decision-makers