Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Government’s criteria are for the application of the precautionary principle in relation to public health risks; on what occasions the precautionary principle has been applied to tackling covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

The precautionary principle is conventionally used to “advise caution in the uptake of innovations with known benefits but uncertain or unmeasurable downsides”. The public health response to COVID-19 considers all available scientific evidence, as well as expert scientific advice. Where there is scientific uncertainty, it is not unusual for public health authorities to take a reasonable but precautionary approach, such as buying ventilators and creating Nightingale hospitals.