Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to fund social care through new homes bonuses; and if he will make a statement.

Local authorities choose how much to spend on social care in their area, drawing on income from local taxes and national grants. On 15 December, we announced that we will provide an additional £240 million to fund adult social care through the Adult Social Care Support Grant in 2017-18, funded by reforms to the New Homes Bonus. This funding will be used to support immediate pressures being experienced by authorities delivering adult social care and will be distributed as a one off grant allocated according to the adult social care Relative Needs Formula. This is in addition to measures to direct funding to social care announced at the 2015 Spending Review, including the improved Better Care Fund grant, which were partly funded from reforms to the New Homes Bonus.