Agenda item

Report from the Executive Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Note the changes in the Government’s approach to the allocation of Public Health Grant;

2.    Approve spending plans for Rotherham’s Public Health Grant outlined in the Report;

3.    Delegate authority to the Director of Public Health to recommission the Drug and Alcohol contract with the protected Drug and Alcohol budget;
 

4.    Delegate authority to the Director of Public Health (within the protected stop smoking budgets in the public health grant) to commission services designed to enable the Council to make progress in achieving a smoke free generation in line with the plans from central government.

Consideration was given to the report which outlined the changes to the Public Health supplementary grant for 2026/27 and allocations to Rotherham Council. It provided a brief update on the 2025/26 spend and outlined the new process for allocations from April 2026, including investment proposals for 2026/27, and beyond where relevant.

In 2025/26 Rotherham Council received Supplementary Public Health Grant funding for substance misuse treatment and recovery via the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Recovery and Improvement Grant (DATRIG) (which included the Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant (SSMTRG)), Individual Placement and Support (IPS), the Local Stop Smoking Services and Support Grant (LSSSASG) and Supervised Toothbrushing. These grants were made separately as part of the Government strategies on drugs and alcohol, tobacco, employment support and oral health. The Grants had specific conditions including maintaining baseline Public Health Grant spend on the respective core services.

The report provided information relating to additional funding that was allocated to Public Health and was protected because of specific conditions attached. Issued via the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), from 2026 this funding was protected within the wider public health ringfenced grant. If the additional grants received were not spent in line with the associated conditions (as with the wider public health grant) future funding could be decreased. The supplementary grants would be added to the Public Health Grant as part of a three year financial settlement.

From April 2026 a funding simplification process would be implemented with the SSMTRG, IPS, LSSSASG grants being added to the Public Health Grant allocation and not awarded as separate streams. In addition, the Swap to Stop budget was being included within LSSSASG. The funding (with the exception of the Supervised Tooth Brushing) was part of a three-year Settlement (2026-27 to 2028-29) but would remain allocated on an annual basis, with indicative figures provided for the protected drug and alcohol funding.

In 2025/26 the Public Health Ringfenced grant was £19.575m. The Public Health Ringfenced grant for 2026/27 would be £22.681m. This incorporated £6.542m that would be additionally ringfenced to specific activities, leaving £16.139m for other public health activities. Although this reduced the

flexibility to spend the grant, there was currently enough spend within the ringfenced areas to meet the requirements of the grant.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Note the changes in the Government’s approach to the allocation of Public Health Grant;

2.    Approve spending plans for Rotherham’s Public Health Grant outlined in the report;

3.    Delegate authority to the Director of Public Health to recommission the Drug and Alcohol contract with the protected Drug and Alcohol budget;

4.    Delegate authority to the Director of Public Health (within the protected stop smoking budgets in the public health grant) to commission services designed to enable the Council to make progress in achieving a smoke free generation in line with the plans from central government.