Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his press briefing on 15 May 2020 in which he referred to placing a protective ring around care homes from the start of the covid-19 outbreak, which measures implemented by the Government prior to the publication of the covid-19 social care action plan published on 16 April 2020 were part of that protective ring.

Since the start of this outbreak we have been working closely with the sector and public health experts to put in place guidance and support for adult social care to respond to the pandemic.

On 12 March 2020 the Government announced that we were moving our COVID-19 response from the ‘contain’ to ‘delay’ phase. The following day, Public Health England published new guidance for care homes. This included action to be taken in the event of a staff member or resident displaying COVID-19 symptoms, and guidance on infection control within the home.

This guidance was updated on 2 April with the Government’s ‘Admissions to Care Homes guidance’. This set out further advice on infection control procedures, as well as isolation, decontamination, cleaning and protective measures for staff.

The Adult Social Care Action Plan published on 15 April set out further measures to support care homes in reducing transmission of the virus. On 15 May, we published our care home support package which recommended further measures care homes could take to minimise the risks of the virus and was backed by a £600 million Infection Control Fund.

We have made £1.3 billion funding available to the National Health Service to help patients who no longer need urgent treatment to get home from hospital safely and quickly. We have also 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.