Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish an emergency volunteer army for social care in light of reports that (1) care homes, and (2) home care providers, are struggling to operate properly due to staff shortages.

We are engaging with the social care sector on all potential options to address staff shortages, such as volunteers, which are already used by many social care providers. We have also provided an additional £462.5 million to support recruitment and retention in social care, expanded the Health and Care Visa to include care workers and the Made with Care national recruitment campaign is running until March 2022.