Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including women with children under the age of 12 months on the list of people permitted to form a social bubble with one other household during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

Reducing social contact is the most important factor in driving down transmission. However, the Government knows that rules about social distancing are difficult for everyone, especially those with young children.

Women with children under the age of 12 months are already allowed to form a childcare bubble with one other household for the purposes of informal childcare for children 13 and under.

Parents of young children can socialise in a public, outdoors space with people they live with, their support bubble, or with one other person. Children under five years old do not count toward the limit on meeting outside.