Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Lewell-Buck and Marcus Jones

Monday 24th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

12. What steps he is taking to tackle regional variations in adult social care funding.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

Adult social care funding is distributed according to the relative need of the different areas using a well-established formula. Most of the £4.5 billion funding for social care announced at the 2015 spending review and in the spring Budget takes into account councils’ ability to raise money through the social care precept.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I thank the Minister for his response, but I am sorry to say that he is wrong. The formula is broken. South Tyneside Council is the third hardest hit council in the country with a low council tax base, demand for adult social care higher than average and hospital services under threat from this Government’s forced sustainability and transformation plans. Is it not true that this Government, who created the social care crisis, cannot solve it and our constituents are suffering as a result?

[Mr Jones]

The hon. Lady’s assessment is completely wrong. Councils will have access to £9.25 billion of extra funding over the next three years. On the money that is coming directly from the Government, it absolutely takes into account a local area’s ability to raise council tax, so areas such as that of the hon. Lady will receive more in funding from the Government than some other areas. She does not have any reason to talk about council tax because it doubled during the Labour Government. Since 2010, it has gone down by 9%.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Lewell-Buck and Marcus Jones

Monday 21st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

I assure the hon. Lady that we have significant and ongoing discussions with the Department of Health on this important area. We both share the same outlook. We want to fully integrate health and social care by the end of the decade, and we are setting out to do that through close dialogue between each Department.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

Age UK reports that 300,000 elderly people are suffering from chronic loneliness, which leads to early death. The cuts imposed by, and inaction from, the Department for Communities and Local Government are letting our elderly people die. Is the Minister proud of that?

[Mr Jones]

We are doing significant work to support social care. We have put in place the precept for social care, which has allowed councils to raise up to an additional £2 billion. We have also put in place an additional £1.5 billion for the better care fund, and we are absolutely committed to working with the NHS to make sure that health and social care are integrated properly. Part of that integration involves making sure that the issues the hon. Lady mentions are dealt with properly, and I can assure her that that is happening.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Lewell-Buck and Marcus Jones

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

The funding coming into the Better Care Fund—£1.5 billion—is all new money for adult social care, and it is going directly to local authorities. The absolute key is the integration of health and social care, and as I have set out to the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) and my hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen and Rowley Regis (James Morris), the Government are determined to achieve that integration.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree with the Conservative council leader who covers his constituency and who was recently quoted in the press as saying that inadequate Government funding has left his local council struggling to provide adult social care services?

[Mr Jones]

First, I welcome the hon. Lady to the Dispatch Box. I heard what she said about the Conservative leader of my local authority, Warwickshire County Council. I speak to the lady to whom she referred at all times. [Interruption.] Well, what I would say is that Warwickshire County Council set a sustainable budget last week, and was able to do that by protecting social care services.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Lewell-Buck and Marcus Jones

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

I am aware that councils can build council housing. That is quite an interesting question, because more council houses were built during the past five years of the coalition Government than during the previous 13 years under Labour.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

4. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the local government grant formula in directing funding to areas of need.