Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to publish proposals for a long-term funding settlement for adult social care during this Parliament.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27 to 2028-29 sets out multi-year
settlements for local authorities, including upper tier authorities that have social care responsibilities. As part of this, the government have set out the funding available to local authorities for adult social care over three years, with around £4.6 billion of additional funding being made available for adult social care in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26.
Alongside a document setting out priority outcomes and expectations for local authorities’ delivery of adult social care from 2026-27, the Department of Health and Social Care has published local authority level notional allocations for adult social care to facilitate local authority budget setting and plans to progress the delivery of adult social care priorities. Notional allocations are not formal spend expectations but will instead act as a reference point to support local authorities in budget-setting. These will be reviewed annually to reflect new data and any wider changes in local government funding.
The provisional Local Government Settlement consultation has closed and the government will publish the final details in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional medical places are funded in start in 2026 compared with 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, the Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum fundable limit for medical school places on an annual basis. For the 2025/26 academic year, the OfS has published the maximum fundable limit at 8,126 for medical school places, with further information avaiable at the following link:
OfS will publish the limit for the 2026/27 academic year in due course.
There are currently approximately 9,500 specialty training places. We set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts, with a focus on specialties where there is greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.
The Government is committed to training the staff we need, including doctors, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed services set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Valour Veterans' Support Programme will include working with existing social enterprises that provide advice, services and support to veterans.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The VALOUR programme will engage across a wide range of stakeholders who provide support services for veterans, including social enterprises. VALOUR Field Officers will work with these stakeholders to improve the coordination of veteran support. The programme will also work with existing organisations to ensure VALOUR Recognised Centres provide a holistic network of support centres for veterans, in areas such as health, housing, employment and finance.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase funding for local authorities to ensure timely access to vision rehabilitation services for people with sight loss, including residents in Woking.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs, including sight loss and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authorities in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014.
The Government is making around £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care, which includes vision rehabilitation, in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26, to support the sector in making improvements. This includes additional grant funding, growth in other sources of income available to support adult social care, and an increase to the National Health Service contribution to adult social care via the Better Care Fund, in line with the Department’s Spending Review settlement.
The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement confirms the Government’s plans to simplify adult social care funding to give local government more flexibility, and to redistribute it to where it is needed most. This will enable local authorities to deliver the Government’s priorities for adult social care within a more flexible funding system and give councils greater discretion over how to use funding to respond to local needs, including for vision rehabilitation.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the independent report entitled Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, how much of the recommended new spending of £2.6 billion has been allocated to date.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.
In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.
We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.
Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has committed to implement the recommendations of the Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, in each of the next five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.
In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.
We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.
Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to allocate additional funding to improve accessibility at (a) playgrounds, (b) parks and (c) recreational facilities.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Parks and recreational facilities are an essential part of local social infrastructure. They provide places for social connection, support health and wellbeing and increase community engagement. At Budget, the Chancellor announced £18 million of investment over two years to refurbish up to 200 playgrounds across England, helping to renew communities and advance the government’s Pride in Place commitment. We will announce how this funding will be allocated in due course.
Local authorities support adults and children to lead more active lives through access to public leisure services, green space, parks and playground spaces. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced, recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities and that procurement is up to the discretion of Local authorities rather than the government
In addition to this, the National Model Design Code provides a toolkit for planners in councils to produce local design codes that pay particular attention to inclusive design when developing places. This includes a specific reference to making play areas accessible and inclusive for all.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of Private Finance Initiative arrangements on the future of healthcare provision in (a) South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency and (b) mid and south Essex.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supporting National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority to develop the new Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs). The new NHC PPP model will build on lessons from the past including the National Audit Office’s 2025 report on private finance and other models currently in use, which is avaiable at the following link:
The new PPP model is about delivering the infrastructure to support the delivery of neighbourhood services, and we are not using the private sector to deliver the National Health Service clinical services that will be delivered from these centres.
The need for NHCs will be locally driven and will recognise what already exists and where additional provision or a new combination of services is needed. Funding of these NHCs under any new PPP model will need to demonstrate value for money and affordability.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much financial support his Department has provided for supported accommodation in a) Eastbourne and b) East Sussex in each year since 2015.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 introduced a duty for all local housing authorities in England to formulate and publish local supported housing strategies. The government will provide new burdens funding and publish guidance shortly, setting out how local authorities should undertake an analysis of existing supported housing provision, current unmet need and future need.
Young people need the right support alongside housing to improve health, wellbeing and access employment, enabling them to access and retain housing and reducing their risk of homelessness and rough sleeping. Funding for housing support services is primarily through the Local Government Finance Settlement and commissioning of services is for local authorities to determine.
We have confirmed a new 10-year £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme to kickstart social and affordable housebuilding at scale across the country. We want to see new supply of supported housing in England through the new programme, in greater numbers and also across a diverse range of cohorts and housing types, including for vulnerable young people.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the current stock of supported accommodation in a) Eastbourne b) East Sussex.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 introduced a duty for all local housing authorities in England to formulate and publish local supported housing strategies. The government will provide new burdens funding and publish guidance shortly, setting out how local authorities should undertake an analysis of existing supported housing provision, current unmet need and future need.
Young people need the right support alongside housing to improve health, wellbeing and access employment, enabling them to access and retain housing and reducing their risk of homelessness and rough sleeping. Funding for housing support services is primarily through the Local Government Finance Settlement and commissioning of services is for local authorities to determine.
We have confirmed a new 10-year £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme to kickstart social and affordable housebuilding at scale across the country. We want to see new supply of supported housing in England through the new programme, in greater numbers and also across a diverse range of cohorts and housing types, including for vulnerable young people.