Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what updates they receive on the regional values of the reproduction index for the COVID-19 virus; and what plans they have to publish such values on a routine basis.

Transparency, including on the evidence informing the views of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), is vital in helping to maintain the public’s trust and grow our collective understanding of the disease, while also helping to explain how scientific advice to the Government is being formed. The Government is working to publish evidence documents and studies, which have formed the basis of SAGE’s discussions and advice to Ministers, regularly, and will publish more evidence in the coming weeks.

SAGE does not currently publish the R value on a regional level. SAGE publishes an updated estimate of the United Kingdom-wide R range on a weekly basis.