Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2021 to question 824 on Babies: Coronavirus, if his Department will allocate further ring-fenced funding to local authorities to support them to meet local demand for increased services for babies.

There are currently no plans to do so. Local authorities receive funding through the public health grant to commission services for babies. The public health grant to local authorities in England will increase from £3.279 billion in 2020/21 to £3.324 billion in 2021/22, an increase of 1% in cash terms.