Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Government’s response to recommendation 45 (c) in its follow up report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Concluding Observations, what steps the Government plans to take to tackle the wide variations in local authority support for disabled people to live independently as a result of the (a) closure of the Independent Living Fund, and (b) decision not to provide ring-fenced funding to local councils when responsibility was devolved.

The Independent Living Fund (ILF) was transferred to local authorities and devolved administrations in 2015. When the Department transferred responsibility to the local authorities and devolved administrations it provided extensive support and committed to monitor the impact. The review was published in January 2017.

The Department of Health has responsibility for on-going ILF policy through the Care Act, which regulates Adult Social Care; The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government decide how much funding local authorities receive.

To ensure that these new responsibilities were handled in a way which was appropriate to the local context, the transference of responsibility did not stipulate a national framework, nor was there any mandatory ring-fencing of the funds. Local authorities and devolved administrations therefore adopted different approaches to manage the transition within a local context.