Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the covid-19 social care taskforce, announced on 8 June 2020, to review the effect of covid-19 on people affected by dementia.

The Social Care Sector COVID-19 Support Taskforce will ensure the delivery of two packages of support that the Government has put in place for the care sector – the Social Care Action Plan and the Care Homes Support Plan. The Taskforce will be supported by several advisory groups including one on support for older people and people living with dementia.

We are monitoring the impact of the pandemic. We have commissioned research through the National Institute for Health Research on how to manage or mitigate the psychological, physical and social impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia living in the community, and their carers. Work has already started with phased outputs to August 2020. The project has produced a leaflet for people living with dementia, and a leaflet for carers of people living with dementia. These are available at the following link:

http://www.idealproject.org.uk/covid/