Oral Answers to Questions

Vicky Foxcroft Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mick Whitley (Birkenhead) (Lab)]

1. When he plans to publish the local authority public health grant allocations.

[Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

8. When he plans to publish the local authority public health grant allocations.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)]

The 2019 spending round announced real-terms growth in the public health grant for next year, so local authorities can continue to invest in prevention. Every local authority will see a real-terms increase in their grant allocations, which I expect to publish imminently.

[Matt Hancock]

No, and that is why I have just announced that every local authority will see a real-terms increase in their grant allocation so that that does not have to happen.

[Vicky Foxcroft]

Between 2017 and 2020, the Government have cut nearly £4 million from Lewisham Council’s public health grant, and the public health team is facing many challenges, not least from coronavirus. What does the Secretary of State mean by “imminently”? Councils need certainty. Given the pressure that local teams are under, will he look to restore funding to 2010 levels, in line with population growth and inflation?

[Matt Hancock]

As I say, every local authority will see real-terms increases in their allocation, and by imminently I mean in the next couple of days.