Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will match his funding for care homes with emergency funding for homecare and supported living providers to help those settings meet extra costs associated with responding to the covid-19 outbreak.

We recognise that COVID-19 is imposing pressures on the social care sector. We have now made £3.2 billion available to local authorities so they can address pressures on local services caused by the pandemic, including in adult social care.

On 13 May we announced a care home support package, supported by a new £600 million Infection Control Fund, to take specific actions to reduce the rate of transmission within and between care homes in line with public health advice. While this funding is primarily for care homes, local authorities may allocate 25% of the funding flexibly, in light of local pressures and need. This may involve support for domiciliary care workforce measures.