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 support care homes operating at full capacity.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population. That is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market and to commission a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care and support services to meet the diverse needs of all local people. In performing that duty, a local authority must have regard to current and likely future demand for such services and consider how providers might meet that demand.

The Department publishes occupancy rates monthly on the GOV.UK website at a national, regional, and local authority level.