Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on children receiving social care of the decision to distribute the social care support grant via the adult social care relative needs formula rather than the children’s services relative needs formula.

At Autumn Budget 2019, the Chancellor made available £410 million in 2019/20 for social care services in local authorities – both adult and children’s social care. We proposed in the provisional local government finance settlement to distribute these resources based on the existing Adult Social Care relative Needs formula, as the best available method. Consultation responses overwhelmingly supported this approach which was confirmed at final settlement. Local authorities have welcomed the additional funding and the discretion to spend in a way which best fits their community’s needs.