Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on adequately funding disabled children’s health and care services in the long-term.

No meetings have taken place between the Secretary of State and the Chancellor of the Exchequer specifically to discuss this issue, however the Department is in discussion with the Department for Education and NHS England and NHS Improvement about how the provision of health and care services to disabled children can be improved. We have provided over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils in the period of 2020-21 and 2021-22 to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including for children’s social care. Since 2019-2020, the Government has provided additional funding for the social care grant and is allocating £1.7 billion in 2021-2022.