Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing measures to ensure that relatives of care home patients have visitation rights.

We have provided guidance on care home visiting during the pandemic, which is kept under review. If a resident or their family have concerns that a care home is not following visiting guidance appropriately, it should be raised with the home in the first instance. The Care Quality Commission can also investigate complaints. Our guidance is clear that local authorities and care providers should enable and support care home visiting wherever it is safe to do so.