Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219231, how the spending on child abuse and neglect within the Formula Grant is decided upon.

Local authorities draw their funding in the main from government grant, locally-retained business rates and council tax. Spending decisions are determined by individual local authorities, with a substantive council budget being voted on each year by Full Council.

Councils are under statutory duties to safeguard, protect and improve the well-being of children and young people. The Department for Education has set out in statutory guidance the Government’s expectations around how these duties will be delivered.