Recommendation 123

Scientific advice was cited in justification for increasingly fine-grained restrictions— with which some of the Government’s scientific advisers were often visibly uncomfortable. When Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, was asked on 3 November why children’s outdoor sport was banned, despite by then widespread evidence that outdoor transmission of covid was very rare, Sir Patrick said: They have had advice from us in terms of the general principles and some of the areas, but, as I say, not down to individual specific activities like that, and the same is true on the medical side as well. […] Chair: Would you advise that children’s outdoor sports should banned? Sir Patrick Vallance: As Chris said, we just do not go down to that level of individual activities.192