To ask the Minister of Health what share of the £5 million allocation to domiciliary care will be allocated to testing of care workers.

The £5m fund which I announced in November 2020 enabled domiciliary care providers to claim back reasonable expenses incurred (up to 31 March 2021) as a result of the pandemic. Whilst no share of the fund was specifically allocated for the testing of domiciliary care workers, domiciliary care providers who chose to deploy antibody tests among staff, could claim those costs back through the fund as a reasonable expense incurred.

My Department has continued to expand the scope of COVID-19 testing services where this is appropriate, and in line with latest medical and scientific guidance. The Department has further extended its asymptomatic COVID-19 testing programme with Lateral Flow Device (LFD) testing now available, as an additional support, on a voluntary basis to asymptomatic staff (those with no symptoms) employed by independent domiciliary care providers, as well as those staff employed directly by Trusts.

Rapid testing of asymptomatic individuals using LFDs, on a regular basis, plays an important role in detecting cases. This can reduce the risk of COVID-19 by identifying those individuals who are infectious, so they can isolate promptly and importantly prevent the transmission of infection.