Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the cost to the NHS of reductions in the provision of social care services.

No assessment has been made.

The jointly published NHS England and NHS Improvement plans for 2018/19 set out that the National Health Service will continue to work closely with local government, supported by the additional £2 billion of funding for adult social care over three years. This is being spent on meeting adult social care needs generally, stabilising the social care market, and reducing pressure on the NHS, including delayed transfers of care.