Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the winter 2022 adult social care discharge fund announced by the Government on 22 September will be funded from existing health and care budgets.

On 22 September 2022, the Government announced an additional £500 million for adult social care this winter to accelerate the safe discharge of patients from hospital and recruit and retain more care workers to support people who no longer need to be in hospital. The funding will be sourced from underspent budgets, efficiencies and savings opportunities arising in the course of normal financial management from Departmental and National Health Service budgets. Approximately half of the available fund will be derived from resources allocated to NHS employers for the health and care levy, which has become available as the levy will not be in place.