Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support he is providing to (a) carers and (b) family members of people with (i) Parkinson's dementia and (ii) dementia with Lewy bodies who are experiencing greater levels of agitation in response to living in lockdown during the covid-19 outbreak.

We recognise the crucial role that unpaid carers play in supporting people with conditions like dementia, especially during the pandemic.

On 8 April we published COVID-19 guidance for unpaid carers on GOV.UK to support carers during the pandemic, which includes general advice on infection control and caring where someone has symptoms. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-providing-unpaid-care

We have commissioned research through the National Institute for Health Research on the best ways to mitigate the psychological and social impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia living in the community and their family carers. Work has already started with phased outputs to August 2020.