Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of permitting partners from different households to form social bubbles during the covid-19 outbreak; and whether he has received scientific advice on that matter.

Single adult households can form a support bubble with another household. People in relationships who live apart can form a bubble as long as one of the people in a relationship lives in a single adult household and all members of the other household are willing to form an exclusive support bubble.

It is very important that if someone in any of these linked households shows COVID-19 symptoms, or is otherwise self-isolating, they should all stay at home. This is critical to controlling the virus, by avoiding a chain of transmission.