Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to end compulsory covid-19 restrictions in care homes.

The Department is reviewing the remaining measures in place in adult social care settings. We will publish updated infection prevention control guidance by 1 April 2022 on the next phase of the response in adult social care.

While most care recipients in adult social care are vaccinated, care home residents remain at a greater risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 relative to the general population. The transmission risk remains high in vulnerable settings due to the kind of close contact care individuals receive. Therefore, some protections need to remain in place for those in adult social care settings.