{"value":{"id":1272893,"memberId":4070,"member":null,"memberRole":"Secretary of State for Health and Social Care","uin":"HCWS687","dateMade":"2020-12-30T00:00:00","answeringBodyId":17,"answeringBodyName":"Department of Health and Social Care","title":"Covid-19 Update","text":"<p>Yesterday, we conducted the latest formal review of Tier allocations across England. The allocations and a detailed rationale can be found attached.</p><p>The new variant means that most of the country is now in Tier 4 and almost all of the country in Tiers 3 and 4. This is absolutely necessary. Where we still can give places greater freedoms, we will continue to do so.</p><p>As set out in the COVID-19 Winter Plan, there are five indicators which guide our decisions for any given area, alongside consideration of ‘human geographies’ like travel patterns.</p><p>These are:</p><ol><li>Case detection rates in all age groups</li><li>Case detection rates in the over 60s</li><li>The rate at which cases are rising or falling</li><li>Positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken)</li><li>Pressure on the NHS.</li></ol><p>These are not easy decisions, but they have been made according to the best clinical advice, and the best possible data from the JBC.</p><p>The regulations will require the Government to review the allocations at least every 14 days. We will also take urgent action when the data suggests it is required.</p><p>We will also deposit a comprehensive list and the data packs used to inform these decisions in the Libraries of both Houses.</p><p>These changes will apply from Thursday 31 December 2020. This list has also been published on GOV.UK and a postcode checker will be available for the public to check what rules apply in their local area.</p>","house":"Commons","noticeNumber":1,"hasAttachments":true,"hasLinkedStatements":true,"linkedStatements":[{"linkedStatementId":1273571,"linkType":"JointStatement","linkDate":"2020-12-31T00:00:00"}],"attachments":[{"url":"https://qna.files.parliament.uk/ws-attachments/1272893/original/Summary of allocations.docx","title":"Summary of allocations","fileType":"docx","fileSizeBytes":23329},{"url":"https://qna.files.parliament.uk/ws-attachments/1272893/original/Narratives.docx","title":"Narratives","fileType":"docx","fileSizeBytes":77664}]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Statements/1272893","method":"GET"}]}