Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the national living wage on sleep-in shifts in the learning disabilities sector.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) independently advises the Government on the trajectory of the National Living Wage (NLW).As part of their remit, the LPC continues to consult a broad range of stakeholders within the social care sector on the impact of the NLW.

Furthermore, from April 2017, the Spending Review makes available social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund.

From 2016/17, local councils have also been able to introduce a Social Care Precept, allowing them to increase council tax by 2% above the existing threshold. This could raise nearly £2bn a year for social care by 2019/20. Taken together, these measures mean that local government has access to £3.5 billion of support by 2019/20 - the funding it needs to increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament.