East Devon MP, Sir Hugo Swire, has welcomed the Government’s decision to plough an extra £2bn into the social care system.
As part of today’s Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the following:
- £2bn of additional grant funding for social care over the next three years, with £1bn available in 2017-18, allowing local authorities to "act now" to commission care packages, Mr Hammond says.
- A green paper on social care funding in the autumn, which will not include exhuming Labour's hated Death Tax.
- £100m for new triage programmes at English hospitals next winter.
Over the past months Sir Hugo has led calls for greater social care funding. He was part of a cross-party delegation of MPs which recently met with the Prime Minister, Theresa May, to discuss social care. He has also made the case for more funding on numerous occasions in the House of Commons and most recently last week when he questioned Treasury ministers on the subject.
Commenting, Sir Hugo said:
‘I have been proud to be part of the parliamentary campaign for more social care spending and I pay tribute to my colleagues from across the political spectrum for making the case to Government so effectively. Today’s announcement shows that the Government has listened to our concerns and acted.
‘It is no secret that our social care system is under immense pressure, which has, in turn, had a knock-on effect on the NHS. An extra £2bn over the next three years will alleviate much of this pressure.
‘Last week the local CCG announced plans to close hospital beds in Devon, albeit not in my constituency. I have made the point time and time again to government ministers that it makes no sense to close hospital beds at a time when social care provision is inadequate. This funding boost will help to mitigate the effects of the loss of hospital beds in Devon’.