Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure the exercise of local discretion in the use of the Better Care Fund.

The Better Care Fund has been set up to ensure considerable local discretion. Each plan is developed by local authorities and clinical commissioning groups before being approved by the local health and wellbeing board, to ensure that it is line with local priorities as articulated in joint health and wellbeing strategies. Local areas also have the discretion to put more money than the minimum allocation into the joint fund if this is in the best interest of the community they serve.

This is the biggest ever investment in integrated care and it is important that investing in new community-based services does not destabilise existing health and care provision in the short term. The Government has put in place some national conditions – for example protection of social care services, seven day services to support discharge, an accountable lead professional to coordinate care for those at high risk of hospital admissions - as well as a payment for performance element that links payments to achieving good outcomes for local people while sharing financial risk across health and social care commissioners.

Local commissioners, with their partners, are best placed to make decisions about how best to make integrated care a reality in their area. These national conditions are proportionate and allow local discretion whilst ensuring best use of public money to support integrated care for improved outcomes.