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 (a) the potential merits of issuing new guidance, (b) demand for personal protective equipment, and (c) the adequacy of access to regular covid-19 testing to allow visits to care homes by family members for residents living with dementia.

In the face of a new variant of the virus we have acted to protect those most at risk in care homes and ensure visits can go ahead safely in some form during the period of national lockdown. Visits can continue to take place with arrangements such as substantial screens, visiting pods, outdoors or behind windows. Close-contact indoor visits are not currently advised. Visits in exceptional circumstances including end of life should always be supported and enabled.

Prior to the national lockdown, we published updated guidance in December 2020 enabling visits to take place in all tiers. This was made possible by a nationwide rollout of testing and personal protective equipment for visitors.