Recommendation 23

We asked the Cabinet Office about recent communications about travel in and out of local areas. On 14 May 2021, the GOV.UK website advised the public against travel out of areas with high levels of the delta variant of the virus, including Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and Kirklees. This led to confusion and to a change in guidance on 25 May to clarify that the government was not imposing local restrictions. The Cabinet Office acknowledged that this had not been its “finest hour” and that the guidance was not communicated as well as it should have been. It attributed this to the fact that government focused on the communication on what it could offer the public (surge testing), rather than on the guidance asking people to be more cautious. It admitted that this had been a mistake and had now been rectified to clarify that asking people in the affected areas to take extra care and minimise travel was guidance, not law. It also stated that, following this incident, communication with local authorities in areas affected by high rates of the delta variant had improved, “taking it back to what we should always have been doing”.50 Risk management