Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the proportion of funding allocated to the social care sector through the planned Health and Social Care Levy, given that less than half of the announced funding has been earmarked for social care services over the next three years.

The Department considered the wider needs of the health and care system in relation to the Levy announced on 7 September, with £5.4 billion over three years for adult social care. The Government confirmed it is providing councils with £1.6 billion of new grant funding per year for social care and other services in this Spending Review period. This settlement also assumes councils will have flexibility to increase the adult social care precept by 1% per year, which will provide up to an additional £1.7 billion in council tax receipts over the three years.