Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that families caring for disabled adults can access respite care during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.

The Government recognises respite care services are, to many, a means of ensuring they are able to continue to provide the support to their friends, family and those they care for. We have worked with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to publish guidance to help providers safely restart respite services. The Government’s Infection Control Fund can be used to support day services adopt infection control measures.

In addition, the regulations on the new national restrictions continue to allow for:

- a vulnerable person to go to someone’s house in order to give the main carer respite;

- someone to enter the vulnerable persons house to give the main carer respite; and

- support groups to continue and as such formally organised groups of up to 15 can continue to meet. Day services are covered by the term ‘support group’.