Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Johnny Mercer and David Mowat

Tuesday 11th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer (Plymouth, Moor View) (Con)]

2. If he will visit Plymouth to discuss how its city council has pooled health and social care budgets.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (David Mowat)]

Plymouth has gone further and faster in integrating health and social care than many parts of the country have done. The integrated fund that it has set up covers housing and leisure as well as health and care. I would be delighted to visit Plymouth and to learn more about how the fund is working in practice.

[Johnny Mercer]

As my hon. Friend points out, Plymouth has taken innovative steps to try to address some of the funding inequalities at play within the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon clinical commissioning group. However, between the calculated spend and the actual spend, there is a funding shortfall of £30 million. Will he agree to work with local MPs, stakeholders and those involved in the wider Devon sustainability and transformation plan to develop a written agreement to address these inequalities?