The final Treasury Questions before a Budget or Autumn Statement always reveals not just what the Opposition plans to attack the government on, but also where the government is feeling particularly vulnerable. This week’s session suggested that ministers are rightly quite nervous about social care funding – and that they realise they will have to do something about it in next week’s statement.
Members from both sides of the House complained about the pressure being placed on their local authorities by the shortage of funds far adequate social care. In response, ministers repeatedly pointed to the precept on council tax and the Better Care Fund, but they also left enough of a space in their answers to suggest that they were preparing to announce something next week. Financial Secretary Jane Ellison was cool on reports in this morning’s Times that ministers might revive a ‘death tax’.
The focus still seems to be on the responsibilities of councils to use the freedoms they already have and to ensure their services are as efficient as possible.
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