Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish further guidance on visiting people in supported living, as set out in the Guidance on care home visiting document updated on 9 March 2021.

On 30 March, we published an update to our visiting guidance for supported living and extra care settings, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supported-living-services-during-coronavirus-covid-19/covid-19-guidance-for-supported-living

The default position in this guidance is that visits should be supported and enabled wherever it is safe to do so and explains how providers can develop a policy for visiting which mitigates risks. For example, lateral flow testing is now available to providers who are currently eligible for staff testing. There are still some national restrictions in place across England which people in supported living, and their family and friends, must follow. Further information can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do