Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason public health grant funding per person is often less in rural local authorities.

The Public Health Grant’s distribution is weighted towards areas facing the greatest population health challenges. The allocation of funding on a per capita basis would not take account of different levels of need. All local authorities received an increase to the Public Health Grant in 2021/22 and a 2.8% increase in 2022/23 and the Grant will continue to increase during the Spending Review period.