Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) community services and (b) social care are fully incorporated into the NHS Long Term Plan.

The Long Term Plan made clear the importance of moving care into the community, and the Government’s commitment to achieving this. It confirmed that over the next 10 years the National Health Service will deliver more care closer to home, and to support this at least an extra £4.5 billion pounds by 2023/24 will be invested in primary medical and community health services. This is the first time in the history of the NHS that real terms funding for primary and community health services is guaranteed to grow faster than the rising NHS budget overall. The Long Term Plan also highlighted the importance of expanded community multidisciplinary teams and improved responsiveness of community health response services.

The Long Term Plan also set out improvements in social care that will be made by enhanced health in care homes, the comprehensive model for personalised care and local health and care plans. We recognise that decisions on future reform in health and social care must be aligned, and this is precisely why the Long Term Plan and the upcoming Social Care Green Paper have been developed in tandem.