Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what savings his Department expects to accrue to the public purse as a result of transferring attendance allowance funding to councils; and whether those savings will be retained centrally or used for other benefits expenditure.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government announced in December that it would consider giving more responsibility to councils in England to support older people with care needs – including people who, under the current system, would be supported through Attendance Allowance.

Any new responsibilities would be matched by the transfer of the equivalent spending power – this is a reform policy, not a savings measure. We are not considering any changes for existing Attendance Allowance claimants and, should devolution proceed, everyone already claiming Attendance Allowance at the point of devolution will continue to receive it.

The Government is currently consulting on the implementation of commitments on 100% business rates retention for councils in England. The consultation seeks views on options for devolving new responsibilities to local government as part of those reforms, and this is one of the options about which we are consulting. The consultation document is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/self-sufficient-local-government-100-business-rates-retention

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