Public Health — 30 Nov 2021 at 15:41

That the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings) (England) Regulations 2021 (S.I., 2021, No. 1340), dated 29 November, a copy of which was laid before this House on 29 November, be approved.

That the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2021 (S.I., 2021, No. 1338), dated 29 November, a copy of which was laid before this House on 29 November, be approved.

“when we don’t particularly need to”.

“is suspected of, or confirmed as, having an Omicron variant”,

“NHS Test and Trace to notify an individual that they are a close contact”.

“Evidence demonstrates that face coverings are effective, when worn correctly, at reducing virus transmission.”

“the requirements imposed by these Regulations are proportionate to what they seek to achieve, which is a public health response to the threat.”

“people do not need to show proof of this reasonable excuse”

“For the purposes of regulations 3(1) and 4(1), the circumstances in which a person (“P”) has a reasonable excuse include”-

“those where P cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of any physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability…or without severe distress”.

“Nobody who has a reasonable excuse and is therefore not wearing a face covering should be prevented from visiting any setting because of the requirements in these Regulations. Furthermore, people do not need to show proof of this reasonable excuse under the Regulations.”

“The Department has also included a range of exemptions to ensure that this policy does not unfairly discriminate against those with protected characteristics. Furthermore, the policy will be supported by a communications campaign that will make clear that some people are exempt from these regulations and people should be challenged by members of the public for not wearing a face covering.”

“Maggie Throup, the Parliamentary under Secretary of State”-

“can confirm that this Explanatory Memorandum meets the required standard.”

“we will not keep measures in place for a day longer than necessary.”-[Official Report, 29 November 2021; Vol. 704, c. 679.]

“We looked at the”

“model and we could see that the variables that were put into the model were quite extreme...Why did you choose the variables that gave extreme results?

“Unfortunately, we have a Sage committee advising a government that is devoid of any scientific expertise, on speculative concepts such as the R number”-

“and the need for everyone to stay indoors, even though the evidence strongly suggests that people are less likely to catch Covid-19 outside.”

“major assumptions and estimates that are built in the calculations seem to be substantially inflated”.

“I don’t care that the prediction is wrong, I’m sure this stuff is hard to predict. It’s that he’s consistently so overconfident.”

“Expect even top forecasters to make lots of mistakes…When smart forecasters are consistently over-confident, start suspecting”

“publicity or policy-advocacy games”.

“Furthermore, the policy will be supported by a communications campaign that will make clear that some people are exempt from these regulations and people should not be challenged by members of the public for not wearing the face regulation.”

Debate in Parliament |