That is an important issue that I am very conscious of. We were clear at the outset that we expected and knew that, in order to protect against the largest harm, there would be other harmful impacts, not least in health.
For example, we knew in March that accident and emergency attendances were at 40 per cent of the pre-Covid-19 level. In April, unscheduled care was at 27 per cent, and planned admissions were at 33 per cent. We began the NHS is open campaign on 24 April, and since then, the numbers have gone up—A and E attendances to 59 per cent, emergency admissions to 72 per cent and urgent suspicion of cancer referrals from 28 per cent to 61 per cent. We have therefore seen the emergence of closer to pre-Covid levels in relation to those important healthcare needs.
However, as we look to remobilise our health service, we need to protect our capacity to deal with the virus—the virus has not gone away, and infections may increase, depending on levels of compliance when we ease the lockdown measures. At the same time, we need to take clear clinical guidance on which of the other paused areas we can restart, bearing in mind that there are other dependencies involved, not least transport and the use of laboratories. The framework for how we will make such decisions will be published in the next couple of days and debated in the Parliament on Tuesday. As we make the decisions, members will be advised, and we may well return to the matter in committee or in the chamber at some point.