Local Government Finance

Liz Kendall Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall (Leicester West) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State tell the House how much money councils will be getting from the NHS to spend not on social care but on public health?

[Mr Pickles]

There are two funds, which add up to just a smidgen over £2 billion. The co-operation of the Department of Health, and the move in which local authorities with social services departments will now have an opportunity to influence the local health scene, represent a considerable change of which Joseph Chamberlain would have been proud. This will put local authorities in their rightful place of being able to co-ordinate a vital part of public health provision.