Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks in care homes on the level of COVID-19 cases in the wider community; what plans they have to prevent carers from visiting multiple care facilities; and what steps they are taking to ensure the adequate care of care home residents while ensuring that infected staff are properly isolated.

There is little evidence to suggest a substantial transmission of infection from care homes into the wider community, but our work to reduce transmission within care homes will reduce any risk further. On 13 May we announced an additional £600 million to support providers through a new Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund. The Fund sets out the measures providers can take to support the workforce to minimise the spread of infection, including ensuring staff can self-isolate, reduce their hours, or reduce the number of establishments they work at, without experiencing any loss of income. Expanding and retaining the social care workforce is also key to enabling care providers to continue to provide care and support to their residents, and we have launched a national recruitment campaign for England to support this.