I was happy to wait for the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, to speak before me. I thank the Minister for introducing and explaining the content of these statutory instruments. As we discussed on Monday, the omicron variant is a sobering reminder that this pandemic is not over. I think we all agree that we need to act with speed to bolster our defences to keep the new variant at bay and to keep each other safe through the difficult winter period.
We on these Benches were critical of the Government’s slow response to the delta variant—slow to protect our borders, slow to act to reduce transmission in the community—so we welcome swifter action regarding
this variant. It is right to be acting urgently given the seriousness of the threat. While it is sad to be debating these statutory instruments after the fact again, it is definitely an improvement on discussing them after Christmas or weeks later.
Turning to the regulations and starting with the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings) (England) Regulations 2021—I still have a problem with all the numbers on these, but this is number 1340—as I said on Monday, it is right to reintroduce masks on public transport, in shops and other settings including banks, hairdressers and post offices for those who are not exempt. However, we believe this measure should never have been abandoned. While mask wearing in public spaces forms part of the Government’s plan B, as far as we are concerned it should have been part of plan A rather than an emergency measure, as should encouraging working from home.
Now we have the issue of building confidence for compliance in the new law. The guidance will be important. When will the guidance about wearing of face masks be issued? USDAW, for example, the shopworkers union —in fact, the union I was a member of when I worked for the Co-op—said:
“Shopworkers aren’t police officers and shouldn’t be expected to act like them. They’re key workers who have kept our country going during these tough times. They deserve our respect.”
I also congratulate my friend and Co-operative colleague Paul Gerrard, who was on “Good Morning Britain” yesterday. He said on Twitter:
“We’ll make sure customers know rules & we’ll help them to follow them but we won’t put colleagues at risk”.
The Co-op is a responsible retailer, as are most of our retailers, but they all need the Government’s support. Have the guidelines been issued yet and what are the Government’s plans to support retailers?
As I said, we think these regulations are too modest and will not provide the protection the Government have described. For example, you will wear your mask to go into the off-licence to get some booze, and then you will go to a party indoors where no one will be wearing a mask. If you attend the theatre, you may get a taxi to the theatre and will wear your mask, and in the theatre some of the people in the audience may be wearing a mask but some will not. Will the Minister explain the scientific justification for those differences?
5.30 pm
Anyone who has taken a journey on public transport in recent months will have seen at first hand the lack of compliance—I do not mean just the Prime Minister. From what all of us have seen on the Tube and elsewhere in our commute, it looks as if there has been an increase in compliance in the last 24 hours or so, but on Monday morning it was depressing to see how few people on the Tube were wearing masks. I am very pleased to say that the statutory instruments committee has been busy and has issued its report this afternoon. It says there is a long list of places where people must wear face coverings, as well as on public transport. It also remarks on the doubling of the fixed penalty, and says:
“The House may wish to ask the Minister to explain why some places were chosen and not others, and, because the list is complex, how members of the public will be able to understand where and when a mask must be worn.”
As the Minister said, it goes on to state:
“These Regulations are due to expire at the end of 20 December 2021 which falls into the period of parliamentary recess”,
so, as I said on Monday, we might need to ask the Minister how he will
“ensure that any decision to extend these Regulations is announced before the House rises.”
Will that be possible?
Why do the Government not specify ventilation in these regulations? Throughout the pandemic, these Benches have called for a radical upgrade of the ventilation of public buildings, particularly schools. We know that is not something that can be done just by clicking your fingers. It is expensive and time consuming, and possibly harder to do than asking people to wear a mask, but it is a very effective intervention. Some 18 months into this pandemic, how many public buildings now have proper ventilation systems as a result of decisions taken during the pandemic?
I turn to statutory instrument 1338 regarding self-isolation. The regulations introduce new rules for self-isolation after contact with a person who is suspected to have contracted the omicron variant of the virus. The issue is, how is it suspected? It begs the question of how on earth one will know. I am keen to hear from the Minister how the decision to introduce only two-day testing and not to reintroduce pre-departure tests, which I understand the United States of America has just announced, was reached. I am keen to know the scientific basis behind that. We have heard many reports of private tests not being followed up, perhaps especially by those offering tests at the cheapest prices. What are the Government going to do to enforce this and to ensure that bringing back two-day PCR tests will be effective? We saw in the summer how frustrating they were for people who would otherwise have been able to avoid self-isolation by being vaccinated. They will now have to stay at home for the full period. However, as we now wait to see how our vaccines and antivirals respond to the new variant, it is right that we prioritise caution and seek to limit community transmission as much as possible.
Perhaps the Minister can clarify why the Government have flatly contradicted the Covid guidance from one of their most senior health officials that people should not socialise before Christmas unless it is necessary. Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said during an interview with the BBC on Tuesday morning—I heard it on the radio—that unnecessary gatherings in the festive period should not go ahead. She said that people can do their bit to halt the spread of Covid in the next few weeks by reducing social contact. She warned that omicron is “more highly transmissible” and could have
“a significant impact on our hospitals … our behaviours in winter and particularly around Christmas we tend to socialise more so I think all of those will need to be taken into account.”
When asked if Dr Harries’s view was shared by Boris Johnson, the PM’s spokesman told reporters:
“No. Our advice to the public is as set out at the weekend. We have put advice out on face coverings and on inward travellers ... Beyond that we haven’t set out any further guidance to the public.”
Asked if people should follow what he was saying or what Dr Harries was saying, the spokesman said:
“The public should follow the guidance as set out by the Government and indeed the Prime Minister at the weekend.”
The least I can say about that is that it is confusing. I would like to have the Minister’s view.
Finally, I shall say something about people who are very vulnerable. The noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, raises this time and again, and the Government need to take it very seriously. Even before the discovery of the new variant, people with underlying health conditions were being widely ignored, despite the fact that their case numbers remained high. Months after the official shielding programme ended, the Office for National Statistics figures from October showed that almost one in four clinically extremely vulnerable people were still shielding and that 68% were leaving the house but taking extreme extra precautions. Ministers have only made matters worse with this. Over the last few months, the Government have removed many measures that would have helped clinically vulnerable people. In England, the legal requirement to wear a mask ended as far back as July, apart from in healthcare settings and care homes, and once furlough ended in October, clinically vulnerable people had fewer options to shield themselves. Many were sent back to offices or public-facing roles without the legal right to work from home or to be paid if they could not. If the Minister cannot answer the questions about the guidelines and what should happen to clinically vulnerable people, I am very happy for him to write to me and put the answer in the Library.