Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding levels for children services in local authorities.

Local authorities set their own children’s services budget from their core spending power, based on local need and priorities. This financial year (2021-22), councils have access to £51.3 billion core spending power for their services, including a £1.7 billion grant for social care.

My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced at Spending Review 2021 that the government will provide local authorities with £4.8 billion of new grant funding over the next spending review period, which is intended to help meet the costs of delivering care for our most vulnerable children.