Executive summary
As part of wider Government action on deficit reduction, the 2015/16 public health grant to local authorities will be reduced by £200 million. This consultation sets out technical options for implementing the saving and will run for a period of four weeks from 31st July 2015.
The principle question relates to how each LA's contribution to the saving will be calculated. The options include a standard, flat rate of 6.2 per cent applied to all, or a process that differentiates between Las in different circumstances (allowing for evidence of hardship, for example) applying varied percentages that still total £200 million.
Chapter 2: Background
2.1 Since 2013 local authorities (Las) in England have had a statutory duty to take the steps that they believe are appropriate to improve the health of their populations. The Department of Health (DH) funds Las for this with a grant.
2.2 In December 2014 DH announced a 2015/16 public health grant of £2.8 billion, with £430 million to be added to that in October 2015 when responsibility for the commissioning of services for children aged 0-5 transfers to Las from NHS England – making a total of £3.23 billion. The grant is paid to Las by PHE in quarterly instalments. The first payment for 2015/16 was made in April 2015.
2.3 DH also identified £5 million to fund a pilot Health Premium Incentive Scheme (HPIS). This was intended to reward Las that achieve a defined level of progress against two indicators of public health.
2.4 On 4 June the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a package of savings to be made across government in 2015/16, the current financial year, to reduce public debt. The savings amount to £3 billion and include £200 million from this year’s public health grant, to be deducted from the January 2016 instalment.
Scope of the consultation
2.5 The Department wants Las to have the optimum flexibility in making this saving while at the same time being as supportive as it can. DH intends to continue to make payments due to Las this year under the HPIS. The Department considered the option of repurposing this money to help mitigate the impact of the grant reduction but does not consider that this would be appropriate. The principle of the HPIS is to reward local progress on key indicators of public health, which DH believes remains important, and the payments it delivers will form an element of Las' public health funding. This means that Las will be able to determine how any payments are best used in the context of the grant reduction and their local priorities.
2.6 In reaching its decisions DH will consider carefully the statutory requirements that apply to it, not least the public sector equality duty.
2.7 DH intends the transfer to Las of responsibility for commissioning 0-5 children’s public health services to take place in October as planned. The Regulations mandating the universal aspects of those services will still come into force on 1 October. It will be open to Las to make savings from the funds that transfer in October as well as from the original April 2015 allocation as long as they comply with these Regulations and the other statutory requirements that apply to them.
2.8 Views on the questions from all will be carefully considered and are equally welcome, particularly in relation to any people sharing a protected characteristic as defined in the Equality Act 2010. Please include in responses any views about ways to minimise possible disruption to services and adverse impacts on public health.
