Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for his policy on visiting care homes during the covid-19 outbreak.

Our policy is informed by expert advice to ensure it is based on the latest international and domestic evidence. We have worked closely with a range of social care stakeholders in developing our policy on visiting care homes during the pandemic.

We will continue to monitor the evidence, and ensure best practice is reviewed and can be applied as we amend our care home visiting guidance to reflect the national situation, and account for the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to vulnerable residents and social care staff.

Plans are currently being developed to allow specific family and friends to visit care homes supported by testing. We have begun rollout of visitor testing, and aim to have nationwide visitor testing by Christmas.