Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2016 to Question 46555, if he will provide local authorities with an increased level of ring-fenced funding for social care in excess of that provided by the Better Care Fund.

David Mowat

Social care continues to be a key priority for the Government. This is why against the context of tough public sector finances the Government has taken steps to protect social care services. However, it is for local authorities to decide how to prioritise their spending based on local priorities and need.

The Autumn 2015 Spending Review settlement announced that local authorities who are responsible for social care would have the ability to raise additional funding to spend exclusively on adult social care through an annual council tax raise of up to 2% above the existing threshold. This new funding for adult social care will be pooled with additional funding from the Better Care Fund. The Government will be making further funding available to councils for adult social care through an improved Better Care Fund, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019-20.