Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September to Question 88935 on Bereavement Counselling: Coronavirus, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending support bubble arrangements to grieving households of any size.

We recognise how difficult it has been for people to be cut off from their friends and family throughout the past few months. Support bubbles were introduced to assist the most isolated in society. They can be a source of extra support to some of those most impacted by the difficult effects of the social restrictions, while ensuring we continue to keep the rate of transmission low. This is why the policy has been targeted at single-adult households. However, there are other sources of support available for grieving households. For example, support groups of up to 15 people are still able to meet. In such scenarios, people should continue to adhere to social distancing when interacting with those not in their household or support bubble.

Guidance on meeting people from outside of their household has been published and can be accessed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-people-from-outside-your-household