PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Disability: Children (12 February 2019)

The commissioning of health and social care services for children with disabilities is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups and local authorities respectively. Local commissioners are best placed to assess the needs of the local population and allocate funds accordingly.

In 2014, the Government introduced a new statutory framework requiring local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to commission jointly services for children with special educational needs and disability, across health, social care and education. Since 2014, £327 million has been given to local areas to support implementation of these new arrangements, in addition to the high needs budget for placements for pupils with complex special educational needs which is over £6 billion this year, the highest it has ever been.

The 2015 Spending Review made available more than £200 billion until 2020 for councils to deliver services to local communities, including for provision of social care services for disabled children. The Government is conducting a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities which will develop a robust, up-to-date approach to distributing funding across all local authorities in England at Local Government Finance Settlements, including for children’s services.

Funding for the National Health Service will grow on average by 3.4% in real terms each year from 2019/20 to 2023/24; by 2023/24 the NHS budget will increase by over £20 billion a year in real terms compared with today.