Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on future building standards to protect occupants from infection with covid-19, including the omicron variant, of the study entitled The removal of airborne SARS-CoV-2 and other bioaerosols by air filtration on COVID-19 surge units, by Andrew Conway Morris an others, published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America on 30 October 2021.

It is through Part F of the Building Regulations that we set minimum ventilation standards for new buildings, or when work is done to an existing building. We have recently published our response to the Future Buildings Standard Consultation which sets out new guidance on Part F, to come into force in June 2022. COVID-19 has shown the importance of ventilation in reducing the spread of infection. The new guidance includes measures to mitigate the risks of airborne infection in new buildings, including CO₂ monitoring and updated specifications for systems that recirculate air between rooms.

The study by Andrew Conway Morris and others is among extensive recent and ongoing research carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic on the effect of ventilation on airborne transmission of infectious agents. This is a rapidly developing area of knowledge and understanding. We intend to continue to monitor and review the available evidence and research in the context of any future changes to Part F.