Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the capacity for effective covid-19 infection control in supported living settings while access to testing is limited to symptomatic staff and residents.

Our first priority continues to be to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and prevent future outbreaks and to ensure the health and safety of staff and residents. Following the rollout of a single round of national testing to the most high-risk extra care and supported living settings, we launched regular retesting, weekly testing for staff and monthly for residents. If a supported living or extra care setting has a suspected outbreak, they should contact their local health protection team immediately, who will undertake an initial risk assessment, provide advice on outbreak management and decide what testing is needed.

Eligible settings must meet both of the following criteria:

- A closed community with substantial facilities shared between multiple people; and

- Where most residents receive the kind of personal care that is Care Quality Commission regulated.

These criteria were set based on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies advice and in consultation with the sector to identify settings most similar to care homes and more likely to be at risk of an outbreak.