Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the evidential basis is for the decision to delay the reopening of sports therapists in England; and what comparative assessment he has made between that evidence and that used by the devolved Administrations to reopen sports therapists in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We’ve now provided close contact services, including sports therapists in England except Leicester, with the certainty they need to reopen from Monday 13 July, subject to them following the Government’s COVID-secure guidelines.

We need to be confident services are able to reopen in a COVID-secure way for the staff and customers. Our approach is guided by the scientific and medical advice, and our guidance has been developed with input from firms, unions, industry bodies and the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and in consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Hairdressers were the initial phase of safely reopening close contact services, and we are now assured that the necessary steps can be taken to reopen the rest of the sector.