Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will reconsider the decision to close specialist shops selling vaping products during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown in England.

Hygiene and social distancing measures are vitally important for reducing the transmission risk of COVID-19. We know that the virus spreads readily in any indoor environment where members of different households and/or support bubbles spend time together, so the transmission risk in indoor settings, such as specialist shops selling vaping products, remains high.  On this basis the decision was made to close non-essential shops during the November 2020 national restrictions.