Oral Answers to Questions

Barry Sheerman Excerpts

Monday 22nd January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I thank my hon. Friend for her warm words and wholeheartedly agree that, where possible, children are of course looked after best by their own families. That is why the troubled families programme, in which we are investing £1 billion through to 2020, is working with those families to reduce the need for children to go into care. I am delighted to tell her that the results in December show a decrease in the number of children in need in that programme.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

14. May I remind the Minister that, whether we are talking about children in care or the elderly in care, the real question that he must answer is what has happened to the fabric of social support and care, which has been driven down by local authority cuts over the past few years?

[Rishi Sunak]

This Government are ensuring that local authorities have the resources they need to provide important local services: £200 billion over these five years; a real-terms funding increase over these two years; and £2 billion announced in the last Budget specifically for social care.