PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Disability: Children (18 August 2021)

HM Treasury Ministers and officials regularly meet with other government departments and a range of stakeholders, which includes discussions around support for disabled children.

The government has to date provided the NHS with over £27bn to support its response to and recovery from Coronavirus, which includes the provision of healthcare services to disabled children. This is part of the overall £87bn support for health services since the start of the pandemic.

The government has also given over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including children’s services. At last year’s Spending Review, we provided councils with access to over £1bn of spending for social care through £300m of new social care grant and the ability to introduce a 3% adult social care precept. This funding was additional to the £1 billion social care grant announced in 2019 which was maintained in line with the government's manifesto.

We will continue to work with other government departments, including the Department for Health and Social Care and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, to ensure the upcoming Spending Review reflects the requirements of disabled children’s health and care services in the longer term.