Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the funding available for children's social care services.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and the department discuss and work with other government departments on a regular basis, including HM Treasury, on a range of issues.

Local government fund their children’s social care services from their core spending power. This is principally made up of council tax, retained business rates and central government grants. This year, as agreed in the 2021 Spending Review, councils have access to £54.1 billion core spending power for their services – an increase of £3.7 billion on 2021/22.

The government announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement that £1.3 billion in 2023/24 and £1.9 billion in 2024/25 will be distributed to local authorities through the Social Care Grant for adult and children’s social care. This is in addition to the funding agreed in the the 2021 Spending Review.

Further details of the total funding available to local authorities in 2023/24 will be provided in the provisional local government finance settlement as soon as is reasonably possible this winter.