Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing to nursing homes to allow residents to see their loved ones over winter 2021.

We have recently reviewed our guidance on visiting care homes and expect to publish updated guidance shortly. The guidance will help care home providers ensure visits can take place over the winter months.

The third Infection Control and Testing fund, announced in October, will provide £388.3 million to support infection prevention and control and testing in adult social care. We have made available more than £2.5 billion for adult social care during the pandemic. We have also provided free personal protective equipment and testing to care home staff, residents and visitors and will continue to do so throughout the winter.