Carers: Public Expenditure
1st November 2010
Dr Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will make arrangements to ensure that local authorities do not reduce services essential to (a) carers and (b) disabled people following the comprehensive spending review; and if he will make a statement. [20058]
Paul Burstow: I have been asked to reply.
The spending review recognises the importance of social care in protecting the most vulnerable in society. In recognition of the pressures on the social care system in a challenging fiscal climate, the coalition Government has allocated an additional £2 billion by 2014-15 to support the delivery of social care. This means, with an ambitious programme of efficiency, that there is enough funding available both to protect people's access to services and deliver new approaches to improve quality and outcomes.
We have achieved this by:
the NHS transferring some funding from the health capital budget to health revenue, to be spent on measures that support social care, which also benefits health. This funding will be up to £1 billion in 2014-15; and
additional grant funding, rising to £1 billion by 2014-15, will be made available for social care. This funding will be allocated in addition to the Department's existing social care grants, which will rise in line with inflation. Total grant funding from the Department for social care will reach £2.4 billion by 2014-15. In order to support local flexibility and to reduce administrative burdens, this funding will go to authorities through the revenue support grant.
