Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to change the self-isolation period before 16 August for key workers who have received two COVID-19 vaccines so that they do not have to self-isolate if contacted by Test and Trace; and whether they will list those professions which fall under the key worker category.

To protect the delivery of public services before the self-isolation rules change on 16 August, a very limited number of named critical workers will be informed that they are considered to have a reasonable excuse to leave self-isolation to attend work if they are contacts. This will only apply to workers who are fully vaccinated (defined as someone who is 14 days post-second dose) and is solely for the purpose of going to work. To mitigate the risk of increased transmission, certain conditions must be followed. This is a short-term and highly focused measure intended to apply only in exceptional circumstances with the core purpose of preventing significant harm to public welfare as a result of disruption to critical services.

The list of sectors that are currently eligible for consideration are as follows: Border Control; Clinical Consumable Supplies; Digital Infrastructure; Emergency Services; Energy (including Civil and Nuclear); Essential Chemicals; Essential Defence; Essential Transport; Food Production and Supply; Health and Social Care; Local Government; Medicine; Medical Devices; Waste; Water & Veterinary Medicine.