Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people's care needs are met in Leicester East constituency.

It is the responsibility of local authorities within the Leicester East constituency, specifically Leicester City Council, to assess individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authority in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014.

To support local authorities, the Government has made available up to £8.1 billion over this financial year and next to support adult social care and discharge. This includes up to £3.2 billion of additional funding over 2023/24 and up to £4.9 billion in 2024/25. This funding will enable local authorities to buy more care packages, help people leave hospital on time, improve workforce recruitment and retention, and reduce waiting times for care. As part of this, Leicester City Council received £6.1 million in new ringfenced social care grant funding in 2023/24.

In addition, in March 2023, we provided £27 million of targeted funding to digitise and streamline local authority assessments to better manage waiting lists and support individuals to access the right care at the right time. We have also made a landmark shift in how we hold local authorities to account for their adult social care duties through new Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessments. The CQC will examine how well local authorities deliver their Care Act duties, increasing transparency and accountability, driving improved outcomes for people who draw on care and support.