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Govt clarifies church guidance on social interactions and produces test and trace consent form

by Cara Bentley

After more meetings with faith leaders, the Government has clarified certain aspects of its church guidance - such as on limiting interactions between households in a communal place of worship and making language clearer for insurers. 

Singing and youth groups in school holidays are still being considered but rules on those were not changed. 

The guidance says social distancing should be strictly adhered to, which is two metres and one metre where that is not possible and other precautions are taken, such as screens or masks. 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (whose Secretary of State Robert Jenrick is pictured) told church leaders: "We have been asked to reinforce that worshippers should limit their interactions with anyone they are not attending the place of worship with, i.e. if they are attending a communal service with one other household, wherever possible they should try not to engage in conversation with anyone outside of this group. We hope being clear on this will protect people and make any test and trace activity easier should anyone fall ill, given they should be more able to identify who they previously had any interaction with."

The Government has also now included a template consent form for places of worship on test and trace, which logs entering and exit times and informs people coming to church that their name and number will be kept for 21 days before being deleted. 

The phrasing around health and safety legislation has been changed in some places to an 'assessment of risk' rather than a 'risk assessment' to give maximum clarity for insurers. 

The Ministry has also reiterated that rules about out of school settings should be followed when providing tuition, training, instruction or activities outside normal school hours. 

  

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