Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Alzheimer's Society report entitled Worst hit: dementia during coronavirus, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing at least one informal carer per care home resident to be designated a key worker and given access to (a) training, (b) covid-19 testing and vaccinations and (c) personal protective equipment.

We are providing rapid (lateral flow) testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) to all care homes in time for the Christmas period, to enable residents to receive regular visits from loved ones. Visitors will still be expected to follow infection prevention and control procedures and minimise contact as much as possible to reduce the risk of transmission. New guidance setting out these visiting opportunities was published on 1 December on GOV.UK.

We are also sending out free PPE to all Care Quality Commission-registered care homes that are also registered on the PPE portal for use by visitors.