Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making mandatory the use of face coverings in shops in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

From Monday 15 June passengers must wear a face covering when travelling on public transport in England by bus, coach, tram, ferry, hovercraft, cable car, aircraft and domestic and international train.

Guidance remains to work from home if you can and avoid public transport where possible, but face coverings can help people protect one another in environments when social distancing is more difficult.

The Government has considered the potential merits of making face coverings mandatory in public places, such as shops. However, as the Secretary of State for Transport set out last week, the difference is that in a shop you may pass somebody but for a short period of time. However, on public transport you could be next to somebody for a long period of time. The guidance for shops is to not let the shop become overcrowded and to put measures in place to help maintain social distancing, but we do not have the same environment for public transport. Our guidance remains that we advise people to wear face coverings in enclosed spaces where social distancing is not possible, this could include indoor crowded areas such as some shops.