Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to undertake an assessment of the impact of covid-19 lockdowns on (a) the rate of divorce, (b) relationship breakdowns and (c) people's health and wellbeing in the long term.

The Government is under a statutory duty to consider the impacts of policies and decisions on people’s protected characteristics, which includes marriages and civil partnerships. We also apply the Family Test to new policies, which considers of the impact on families before, during and after couple separation.

The Government recognised that restrictions on gathering indoors and on non-essential travel would limit some opportunities for families to meet their support network, which could have a negative impact on relationships. Therefore, we introduced measures to mitigate these risks, such as the creation of support bubbles and childcare support bubbles. We also prioritised keeping schools open and created a specific power to do so in the Coronavirus Act 2020.