Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanisms are in place to ensure that funding allocated within the public health grant for delivery of health visiting services, as set out in the healthy child programme, is spent for that purpose; and what consideration they have given to ringfencing that element of the programme.

The Public Health Grant supports local authorities to deliver their public health responsibilities and commission front-line public health services, such as health visiting and other children’s public health services. The grant is ring-fenced to ensure it is spent on public health functions, but local authorities have flexibility to respond to the specific needs of their communities and deliver appropriate public health services.

Local authorities are responsible for deciding how to spend their grant, ensuring that all expenditure complies with conditions set out in the public health grant circular. Local authorities’ compliance with grant conditions is assured by the Department. Local authorities must report their public health expenditure annually, and reporting categories include prescribed children’s zero to five years old services. Each director of public health and senior finance officer must also provide an annual assurance statement confirming that the grant has been spent in line with the conditions set. The Department has issued healthy child programme guidance, which specifies standards and delivery expectations for health visiting, and this has recently been refreshed to strengthen service delivery and promote national consistency in service quality.

The Department has published expected Public Health Grant allocations for the next three years.