SOCIAL SERVICE BUDGETS

Early day motion 780, tabled 31 January 2002 by Lord Cryer (Labour). Signed by 54 members.

That this House supports efforts by the Local Government Association to gain greater recognition of the rapid increase in personal social services costs to local authorities; recognises that this is a national problem owing to growing demand, especially in children's services, and that many social service departments find they need to spend substantially more than their spending allocation in their financial settlement to meet unforeseen demands on their services; welcomes the extra ú300 million announced in October by the Secretary of State for Health to deal with problems of delayed discharge from hospital; also welcomes the fact that this issue is being investigated in the current comprehensive spending review; but calls on ministers to increase the budget allocation for social services as a matter of urgency to relieve pressures on council budgets in the next financial year.

Signatures by party: Labour 44, Liberal Democrat 7, Labour/Co-operative 3.