To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on the funding of adult social care of the reclassification of new homes bonus as an adult social care grant.

Local authorities choose how much to spend on social care in their area, drawing on income from local taxes and national grants. The Local Government Finance Settlement confirmed that will provide an additional £240 million to fund adult social care through the Adult Social Care Support Grant in 2017-18, funded by reforms to the New Homes Bonus. This funding will be used to support immediate pressures being experienced by authorities delivering adult social care and will be distributed as a one-off grant allocated according to the adult social care Relative Needs Formula. This is in addition to measures to direct funding to social care announced at the 2015 Spending Review, including the improved Better Care Fund grant, which were partly funded from reforms to the New Homes Bonus.