Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that high standards of infection prevention and control are implemented consistently across social care settings.

In November 2021, the Department launched the IPC Champions Network for Adult Social Care, a forum for infection prevention and control (IPC) experts in the sector to share best practice. Accompanying the launch, the Department created a guide providing examples of IPC measures and best practice in various care settings. On 31 March 2022, we also published updated IPC guidance supported by webinars hosted by the Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care.