Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New reforms and independent commission to transform social care, published on 3 January 2025, how these reforms will improve service provision in Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.

In January 2025, we announced that we will be taking forward a range of initiatives, including funding more home adaptations, promoting better use of care technologies, and further professionalising the adult social care workforce.

On top of the Budget making £3.7 billion of additional funding available to social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant, this announcement included an immediate £86 million uplift to the Disabled Facilities Grant. Local authority funding allocations will be announced shortly.

We also announced that in April 2025 we will be launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. This will start a national conversation about what care and support working age adults, older people, and their families expect. The commission will identify the biggest challenges in adult social care and recommend practical changes to best meet the current and future needs of the population across England.