Mr. Andy Pike:

I do not believe that the author of the current guidance necessarily has a full understanding of the work of a SNA daily in a school. We asked the then acting Chief Medical Officer for a review of the guidance and were told he had no statutory responsibility for staff in the education sector. We asked the current Minister for Health for a review of the guidance and were again told that he had no statutory responsibility for staff in the education sector, so we are in a cul de sac on this.

It is relevant, especially in terms of how a close contact is defined, because one of the criteria used by public health is an assessment of what PPE is available and in use and on that point we think the guidance is very confused.