My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for introducing these regulations and welcome the opportunity to debate the important issues they concern. However, in common, I am sure, with other noble Lords, I feel that our timing is not exactly right. I must confess that I am struggling with the tense that I am going to use, about whether things were, are or will be, but I am sure that noble Lords will bear with me.
The measures that we are discussing have been necessary to keep the public safe and to get the country back on track, and we certainly give them our support today, albeit that they came into force last month. The first instrument relates to entry to venues and events. In the face of a rapidly spreading omicron variant, people certainly needed to feel confident about going out in public, knowing that the Government were taking action to reduce the risk of superspreader events. The Government’s decision to take up our suggestion of a recent negative lateral flow being accepted as an alternative to vaccination status was a good one. It enabled struggling hospitality venues to continue to operate while keeping those using them as safe as possible.
There are a few points on which I would appreciate clarity from the Minister—as I say, I can speak only for the moment which we are in. At present, full
vaccination is defined as two doses of the vaccine at least 14 days before permitted entry into an event. Given that research has highlighted the efficacy of the booster vaccination in tackling omicron, what discussions have been had about updating the definition of full vaccination to three doses? Is that something the Government are considering? I make that point because, if the Government are to go down that road, it would take time to adapt to.
It would also be helpful to know about progress on the booster rollout for immunocompromised, clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable people, which has stalled recently. I take the opportunity to ask the Minister: how is progress going to get this incredibly important aspect absolutely right? I understand that the Minister in the other place recently said that letters were going to those in that group, so perhaps he can say what will be in these letters and what further measures are being planned.
We of course know that these restrictions are to be reviewed—if we look at the current restrictions, there is an expiry date of 26 January. Again, it would be helpful to have an update from the Minister on how discussions are progressing.
I thank my noble friend Lord Jones for his kind words and his introduction of what we might call the Welsh angle, which is always helpful in these discussions. Close working with the devolved Administrations, as I am sure the Minister will acknowledge, is absolutely crucial when faced with a pandemic.