Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak, whether the Government has plans to ban the opening of (a) pubs, (b) clubs and (c) small music venues.

Last week, the Government ordered certain businesses including pubs, clubs and music venues to close. This was followed on Monday by the Prime Minister’s announcement that all non-essential premises must close and that people are required to stay at home, except for the very limited purposes that have been set out. These measures will reduce our day to day contact with other people and are a vital part of our efforts to reduce the rate of transmission of coronavirus. Every citizen is instructed to comply with these new measures and the Government will be ensuring the police and other relevant authorities have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings where people do not comply.

The new measures will initially last for the three weeks from 23 March, at which point the Government will look at them again and relax them if the evidence shows this is possible.