Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Alzheimer’s Society research showing that 43 per cent of care homes are not fully confident in their supply of personal protective equipment, what plans he has to ensure the safety of and support for care home residents and workers.

During this unprecedented global outbreak, we have kept our social care guidance under constant review and have been working tirelessly with the sector to reduce transmission and save lives. The Government is fully committed to ensuring care homes feel confident in their personal protective equipment (PPE) supply. We are now confident in the stocks and sources of supply of PPE to meet the needs of health and social care over the next seven and 90 days.

More widely, we have set out a comprehensive action plan to support the adult social care sector throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. This has included £3.2 billion of funding for councils and providing millions of items of PPE.