Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to facilitate supported conversations with unvaccinated staff in care homes before those staff are required to have a covid-19 vaccine.

We are delivering a programme of work to support vaccine uptake among social care staff, including communications to address the concerns of those who may be hesitant to receive the vaccine. The Department has developed a toolkit for the adult social care sector which includes resources addressing common concerns about the vaccines and advice on how to reassure people about taking the vaccine. The Department has also talked directly to managers of care homes for older adults with low vaccine uptake among their staff, signposting managers to resources they can use when speaking to staff to enable them to feel confident about the vaccine.