The statistics that the Government relied upon were official statistics and, I think, were exactly the same as the statistics used by the report to which the noble Lord referred. Of course, that report takes us forward 10 and 20 years. I am not pretending that the spending round has done that—it never does and I think it is safe to say that it never will. But we did look forward in a rigorous way to the pressures on the system in 2015-16 and based our assessment on the statistics that are officially issued.
As all plans will be jointly agreed by the NHS and local authorities in the pooling arrangements that I referred to, that in itself will provide a strong guarantee that the money is spent in a way that delivers on the priorities of health as well as of care and support. Not only will this fund help to deliver joined-up services, it provides the necessary funding for all the commitments and duties set out in this Bill, and the growth in
demand from an ageing population and growing number of disabled people—I say in particular to the noble Lord, Lord Rix, and the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell. In particular, funding worth £335 million has been set aside for the introduction of the cap on care costs and the extension of deferred payment agreements.
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With some of the biggest users of the NHS being those who also use care and support services, the drive towards better integration in the system is absolutely essential. This is not just to create a more efficient service, but because the individuals and families who will benefit the most are often those who fall between the cracks of the two systems, being pushed from pillar to post and not getting the care and support that they should.
The investment in integrated services will back the wider moves towards supporting people at home, reducing unnecessary admissions to hospital and focusing more on prevention and support in the community. All of this will improve care and help to reduce burdens on the system. Local areas will work together to draw up plans for the use of this money, ensuring that it is spent on health and care services. All plans will include a commitment to protect care and support, which will guarantee that care and support services receive the investment that they need.
Pooling budgets and producing joint plans have all kinds of advantages. Importantly, they will help to drive down costs in the acute sector by tackling expensive pressure points in the system, like A&E; by improving prevention services; by reducing unplanned hospital admissions; and by allowing people to stay in their homes and live independently.
The noble Lord, Lord Best, raised the point about regional variation and questioned whether the funding allocations would adequately address that. Funding for social care is distributed to local authorities according to relative needs formulae, which ensure that local variation is taken into account. I am satisfied that that was done during the spending review.
The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, pointed to the risk that, if we are not careful, funding pressures could mean commissioning cheaper and poorer quality services. We are all alive to that risk and we want to avert it. We recognise that the last spending review provided local authorities with an extremely challenging settlement. That is why we took the decision then to prioritise social care and we have done it again in the spending round. I hope that the announcement last week, together with this Bill, demonstrates our commitment to funding social care and promoting quality in care and support services. We took the decision to provide extra funding to help local authorities maintain access to services. As I said, that includes £1.1 billion in 2014-15. Local authorities, however, should be looking at how they can transform care by innovating and exploring new ways of working. Many local authorities are already doing this; I will mention a few examples in a moment.
The noble Lord, Lord Beecham, asked me how the pooled budget arrangements would produce the kind of outcomes that we all want to see. I think the key point here is that this pooled health and social care budget will benefit by its very nature both care and
support and the NHS. It will safeguard those funds in the process and it will, as I have outlined, help to save money by keeping people well for longer. It will be given only on the condition that services are commissioned jointly and seamlessly between the local NHS and local councils. I have already explained about having all the plans agreed together, so that we can ensure that the NHS’s priorities are also met and that this money, as it delivers on the priorities that are important to the NHS—I have mentioned a few—will be used effectively.