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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on levels of access to respite care.

The Government recognises that respite care and other forms of day services provide important support for people with care needs and their carers, especially during the pandemic.

We have worked with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to publish guidance to help make decisions on restarting services and to provide quality care safely. In addition, through the Government’s Infection Control Fund, we have extended some of this funding to be used to support day services adopt infection control measures to help make decisions on restarting day services and to provide quality care safely.

We also continue to work to understand the challenges for day services and are undertaking work with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and local authorities to understand barriers to opening day services.