Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to publish updated guidance for (a) Narcotics Anonymous and (b) other mutual aid groups on holding face-to-face meetings during the covid-19 outbreak.

Support groups can take place in groups of up to 15 people in a COVID-19 secure setting, if the support group is organised by a business, a charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution or a public body to provide mutual aid, therapy or any other form of support to its members or those who attend its meetings. This includes, but is not limited to, providing support to those with, or recovering from, addictions including alcohol, narcotics or other substance addictions or addictive patterns of behaviour.

The revised guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do#can-i-go-to-my-support-group

The Government keeps the situation under review and will amend the guidance as necessary to reflect the latest position.