§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer to the right hon. Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack) on 6 March 2002,Official Report, column 280, regarding social services spending, how much funding has been provided by (a) central Government and (b) local authorities through council tax in the last five years. [42636]
§ Prime MinisterSocial services funding is increasing by around 20.4 per cent. in real terms between 1996–97 and 2002–03; an average of 3.1 per cent. each year, compared with an average of 0.1 per cent. annual real terms growth between 1992–93 and 1996–97.
Local government's social service responsibilities are funded through general grant as part of the local government finance settlement, ring-fenced grants provided by the Department of Health and local authorities through council tax. Decisions on the budgets local authorities allocate to particular services are for local authorities to make bearing in mind their statutory responsibilities, their priorities and the wishes of their electorate. It is not therefore possible to say how much funding for social services has been provided through council tax or general grant.
General grant is distributed through standard spending assessments (SSA) formulae. The figures in the following table comprise personal social services SSA, which includes an assumed element for council tax, and ring-fenced grants paid by the Department of Health for social services in England. The figures exclude grants paid for social services by other Government Departments.
£ million 1997–98 7,911.8 1998–99 8,479.8 1999–2000 8,862.9 2000–01 9,307.0 2001–02 9,957.2