Committees

Public Health England's grant to local authorities

Inquiry

The implementation of the Health and Social Care Act in April 2013 made fundamental changes to the public health system. The hub of the new system is Public Health England, an executive agency of the Department of Health. Its remit is to protect the public’s health, and to promote the health and wellbeing of the nation and reduce health inequalities. As part of the new arrangements, responsibility for commissioning local public health services transferred from NHS primary care trusts to local authorities. In 2013-14 local authorities received ring-fenced grants totalling £2.7 billion for this purpose. This inquiry will examine whether the arrangements for the ring-fenced public health grants will deliver value for money and look at the effectiveness of Public Health England’s role in supporting local authorities to provide public health services.

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