Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that agency staff working in care homes are regularly tested for covid-19.

Care homes are provided with sufficient testing kits when they order from the care tests portal to do this. Guidance is clear that weekly testing of care home staff includes agency staff. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regular-retesting-rolled-out-for-care-home-staff-and-residents