Ian Mearns
Main Page: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Brandon Lewis
My hon. Friend is right. Good councils such as Kent county council have worked hard to drive down their core costs while still investing in their communities and freezing council tax. That is good for all residents on all levels and I congratulate councils such as Kent on doing that.
Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)
9. What assessment he has made of the potential effect on local authority budgets of increased demand for adult social care.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Don Foster)
In recognition of the pressure that local authorities face, we prioritised adult social care at the last spending review and provided an extra £7.2 billion to protect access to services that support vulnerable people. It is for local authorities to choose how best to use the available funding.
Ian Mearns
In asking my question, I should point out that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association.
The LGA believes that local government is facing a financial black hole and that the Government’s severe cuts to local authority budgets are a false economy, as those unable to pay the escalating charges for social care are more likely down the line to require costly hospital or residential care. Before making cuts to local government budgets, did the Secretary of State have any meaningful discussion with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential implications for health service budgets?
Mr Foster
There are constant discussions between the Secretary of State and his colleagues in the Department of Health. As a result of those discussions, we have now not only introduced the £7.2 billion, but are encouraging much closer working between health and social care and are putting in an additional £300 million over two years to facilitate that joint working.