Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will place in the Library any medical and scientific advice he received on (a) the holding the Champions League fixture at Anfield Stadium on 11 March 2020 and (b) the decision to allow supporters from Spain to travel to and attend that fixture.

At the time of the fixture there were no restrictions on mass gatherings or foreign travel. The decision to hold this football match was taken by the footballing authorities.

The Government relies on the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies for scientific and technical advice during emergencies. This included advice on mass gatherings. It concluded that the risk to an individual from attending large events is generally no higher than in smaller events. In most larger events, such as sports matches, attendees will come into close contact with at most a handful of people, so the risk to attendees is low.

The advice can be found here;

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/873748/12-spi-m-o-consensus-view-on-public-gatherings.pdf

On 16 March, the Prime Minister announced significant changes to the Government’s approach to social distancing. This included increasing social distancing to help avoid unnecessary contact between individuals. Advice was issued on mass gatherings on the same day.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-guidance-for-mass-gatherings