Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with the CQC where visits have not been allowed into care settings.

The Department regularly works with Care Quality Commission (CQC) and stakeholders to ensure that visiting remains a priority. CQC specifically ask care providers if they are facilitating visiting as part of their inspections and can take regulatory action when required. This encourages settings to follow the Government guidance which states that every resident should be able to have at least one visitor in all circumstances.