Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the publication of the public health grant allocations to local authorities for 2020-21 has been delayed; what assessment he has made of the effect of that delay on the planning of services for (a) the event of a covid-19 outbreak and (b) other public health issues; if he will make it his policy to raise those grant allocations to 2010 levels in line with population growth and inflation; and if he will make a statement.

Public health grant allocations for local authorities for 2020-21 were published on 17 March 2020. We have not made a specific assessment of the timing of publication on the COVID-19 outbreak or other public health issues. At the time of the Spending Round 2019, the Government announced that the public health grant would rise in real terms, enabling local government to continue to invest in the services it funds. As part of the response to COVID-19, the Government has announced a new £500 million hardship fund so local authorities can support economically vulnerable people and households.