Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the impact of chickenpox on (a) the NHS and (b) schools.

Chickenpox is not a notifiable infection in England. In the United Kingdom, varicella immunisation is only recommended to protect those people who are at most risk of serious illness. Individuals who are in regular or close contact with those at highest risk are immunised, including non-immune healthcare workers and close household contacts of immunocompromised individuals, such as the siblings of a child with leukaemia or a child whose parent is undergoing chemotherapy. Varicella immunisation can also be administered to healthcare workers, laboratory staff and those in contact with immunocompromised patients.