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Barclay says NHS will get extra funding in autumn statement
Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay has strongly indicated the NHS will receive more funding in tomorrow’s autumn statement, and said that reports he argued to the Chancellor that the NHS “did not need any more money” were incorrect.
Responding to a question from HSJ following his speech at the NHS Providers annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Barclay suggested the NHS would receive some form of additional funding in tomorrow’s budgetary announcement to help counter inflationary costs.
He said he “can absolutely confirm that we [the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS] do need support because of inflationary pressures”.
He said: “For those that read the Times story, it said it was my view that the NHS didn’t need any more money to meet inflation. Firstly, that is completely incorrect. We told the journalist it was incorrect but they ran the story nonetheless.
The good thing about [this] is colleagues in the room will be able to see tomorrow [when the autumn statement is published]. The Treasury would not allocate any money to the department if the department said they didn’t need it.
In short, of course we face significant financial pressures and inflation is there…”
Mr Barclay suggested he had made the case for more funding and believed he was in a position to do so more in the future, having worked in the Treasury and Number 10 in the past.
NHS England said last month that, if inflation continued as expected, there would be a gap in its funding of several billion pounds in 2023-24 — on top of other major cost pressures — meaning government would be presented with choices about what to cut.
Source: HSJ, 16 November 2022
See also: The Times- NHS doesn’t need more cash, says Steve Barclay
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UK council tax caps to be eased amid local authority funding crisis
Local authorities will have the cap on the level of council tax rises eased as a growing number of them struggle to remain financially viable in the face of soaring inflation and rising demand for services.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will use the Autumn Statement on Thursday to give local authorities the right to raise council tax by a maximum of 4.99 per cent from 2.99 per cent before having to put the increase to a local referendum, according to people familiar with the plan. This would include a 1 per cent levy for social care.
Cash-strapped local authorities, already hit by a 37 per cent cut in central government grants since austerity measures were introduced in 2010, are increasingly struggling in the high-inflation environment.
If taken up in full by local authorities, a 4.99 per cent rise would increase the average bill for a typical family home, covered by council tax band D, to more than £2,000, exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis for millions of households.
Source: Financial Times, 16 November 2022
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Chancellor must act to protect local services from spiralling costs
Many local services face severe cutbacks due to spiralling costs caused by inflation and demand pressures, the Local Government Association (LGA) is warning today ahead of the Autumn Statement.
A survey by the LGA reveals all responding councils are facing additional cost pressures which were not included in their budget for this year.
It comes as councils are battling to find an extra £2.4 billion this year to meet unforeseen extra inflationary cost pressures, energy prices rises and estimated increases to the National Living Wage since budgets were set in March.
Most councils are planning to use reserves and make cutbacks to services to plug funding gaps so that they can meet their legal duty to balance the books this year. As the survey makes clear, there are not enough reserves to continue to plug funding gaps in future years, as they can only be spent once. Using up all revenue reserves would leave councils at high financial risk and will lead to even greater cuts.
The LGA said it is inevitable that councils will be faced with having to make cuts to the services relied on by our most vulnerable and which councils legally have to provide – including children’s services and adult social care. The LGA is warning that if the Government does not provide adequate funding councils will be unable to protect even these vital services from cuts.
The LGA is also clear that the scale of the funding gaps faced by councils are too big to be plugged by council tax increases alone. To do so, councils would need to put up council tax by more than 20 per cent over the next two years. This is neither sustainable nor desirable given the current cost of living crisis.
Source: Local Government Association, 16 November 2022
See also: The Guardian- English councils warn of ‘existential crisis’ caused by funding shortfall
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Guernsey: Stop smoking services to offer free vape kits
Smokers in Guernsey will be offered free vaping kits to help them quit. Quitline, the island's stop smoking service, said the kits would be offered to smokers aged 18 and over in conjunction with advice and support.
The kits will be as an alternative, or in addition to nicotine replacement therapy, which is also available.
Guernsey Quitline said ongoing research showed vapes to be a far less harmful alternative to smoking.
Source: BBC, 16 November 2022
See also: GOV.UK- Nicotine vaping in England, evidence update 2022
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Parliamentary Questions
PQ1: Smokefree targets
Asked by Andrew Gywnne, Labour, Denton and Reddish
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what step his Department is taking to help reduce rates of chronic illness among working-age adults.
Answered by Neil O'Brien, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health
We are expanding the NHS Health Check and home blood pressure monitoring to manage hypertension and through the Diabetes Prevention Programme, NHS England has secured providers of Low-Calorie Diet programmes in 10 local systems. With NHS England, we published ‘Musculoskeletal health: 5 year prevention strategic framework' which prioritises supporting employers and employees to understand the benefits of good musculoskeletal health.
Source: Hansard, 14 November 2022
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PQ2
Asked by Andrew Gwynne, Labour, Denton and Reddish
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Khan review, published 9 June 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the finding that without further action now, England will miss the smokefree 2030 target by at least seven years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health
We are currently considering the recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete' and further information on plans to meet the 2030 target will be available in due course.
Source: Hansard, 14 November 2022
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PQ3
Asked by Andrew Gwynne, Labour, Denton and Reddish
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2022 to Question 60973, when he plans to provide the update on plans to deliver the smoke-free target.
Answered by Neil O'Brien, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health
We are currently considering the recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete' and further information on plans to meet the 2030 target will be available in due course.
Source: Hansard, 14 November 2022
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