Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of areas of the country with a relatively low level of social care provision; and what steps he plans to take to reduce that number.

There has been no estimate of the number of local authorities with low level of social care provision. Access to adult social care is based on the level of need an adult has and not on the number of users.

In April 2015, the Care Act 2014 introduced a national eligibility criteria for access to adult social care. The Act requires that local authorities must meet the needs of any adult whose needs meet this national criteria. Authorities cannot restrict eligibility beyond this threshold. This ensures that the most vulnerable adults have their eligible needs met.