Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so, when, they intend to publish guidance for the use of personal protective equipment in social care settings for people who are deaf or have other communication difficulties.

Existing guidance documents include information that may be useful to deaf people or people with other communication difficulties, as the guidance covers adapting communication and following communication plans, where they exist, for people who have a range of communication barriers. These include Personal protective equipment (PPE) – resource for care workers working in care homes during sustained COVID-19 transmission in England and the same section of Personal protective equipment (PPE) – resource for care workers delivering homecare (domiciliary care) during sustained COVID-19 transmission in the UK, which are attached.