Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of public spending cuts on child social care.

HM Treasury are responsible for setting government departmental budgets. Children’s social care budgets are set by local authorities from their non-ringfenced core spending power to allow councils freedom to spend according to need and local priorities.

In 2022/23, councils have access to over £54 billion in core spending power for their services, including for children and young people. This is £3.7 billion more than in 2021/22. As part of this, the government has increased the social care grant, which has risen from £410 million in 2019 to £2.35 billion this year.

Local authorities have increased spending on children’s services over time. In 2020/21 councils spent £11.1 billion on children and young people’s services. This is 23% (£2.05bn) higher than spend in 2015-16.

As announced in May 2022, the department will consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, the National Panel Review into the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, and the Competition and Market Authority study into Children’s Social Care Placements. Plans will be set out for children’s social care reform through an implementation strategy, including cost and funding implications, in due course