Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons he has not introduced greater public health measures in response to the pressure on the NHS and mortality levels resulting from the covid-19 outbreak.

The restrictions in place since 8 December 2021 will assist to slow the spread of the Omicron variant and reduce pressure on the National Health Service. The Government monitors a wide range of data to assess the risk to the NHS, including metrics such as hospital occupancy for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, admissions in vaccinated individuals and the rate of growth of admissions. The Government reviewed the current measures on 5 January 2022 and assessed that in response to the latest data, these restrictions should remain in place. We will review these measures before the associated regulations expire on 26 January 2022.