Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of multi-year funding arrangements for specialist social care provision supporting the Armed Forces community.

No specific assessment has been made on the potential merits of a multi-year funding arrangement for specialist social care provision supporting the Armed Forces community.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, and this would include members of the armed forces community, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, they are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes encouraging a variety of different providers and specialist services, so as to provide genuine choice to meet the range of needs and reasonable preferences of local people.

At the 2026/27 Local Government Finance Settlement, published earlier this year, the Government set out the first multi-year settlement in a decade. Running from 2026/27 to 2028/29, this enables local authorities to plan effectively on a multi-year basis.