Coronavirus: UK drawing up plans to safely re-open businesses
The government is set to provide workplace-by-workplace guidance on how businesses will be able to re-open as the UK eases its coronavirus restrictions.
Business secretary Alok Sharma will issue a series of instructions for how different sectors will be able to go to work, and how sectors such as hospitality, manufacturing, construction and retail can still abide by social distancing rules when they re-open.
His department will have 10 papers drawn up by the weekend to detail how the economy will re-open, according to the Financial Times.
The papers are thought to include restrictions on communal spaces, increased hand washing and sanitising, and an avoidance of face-to-face work.
A government spokesman said: “It is only right that we work together with industry and unions to ensure workplaces are safe for both those in work now and for those going back to work as government measures develop.”
Boris Johnson will front today’s press briefing, and is expected to reveal more details on how the government is assessing the five tests it has set to ease the coronavirus lockdown.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said yesterday at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) that the government will outline its plans to ease the current social distancing measures “in the next week or so”.
The government has come under pressure from business groups asking for more details about what the coronavirus exit strategy will look like for the private sector.
CBI director general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn wrote in the FT that there needed to be guidance given to UK businesses on how they will be able to get back to work.
“Companies would welcome clear guidance — and proportionate enforcement — on protecting health, but with room to adapt,” she said.
“Regular consultation with staff will help businesses to forge ahead where it’s safe to do so or slow down when concerns emerge.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also pushed the government yesterday to give more information on how it will ease the lockdown.
“I’m not asking for the lockdown to be lifted,” Starmer said.
“We support the government on lockdown and we’ll continue to do so.
“I’m not asking for a timeframe. I said I wouldn’t ask for the impossible and I won’t.
“I’m asking for the government to be open with the British people about what comes next.”
Raab said the government could not publish its plans until it received updated guidance from Sage, its key scientific advisory body.