THE Government has finally released the public health budgets for Dudley and Sandwell Councils when responsibility is transferred from the NHS in April.

The announcement reveals Sandwell will get a 10 per cent rise in money allocated for public health and Dudley a 2.8 per cent rise.

From April councils will be responsible for improving the health of their local communities instead of the National Health Service.

Today’s figures were welcomed by Councillor Paul Moore, Sandwell Council cabinet member for health, who has been calling for the Government to release the figures for weeks.

He said: "There is just over 70 days to go until the transfer of public health and to put it bluntly we should have had these figures months ago.

“However, the Government has gone some way to addressing the worries we had over a shortfall of funding in Sandwell."

The Government released two year public health budgets for each council today with Dudley Council getting a £18, 457,000 for 2013/14 and £18,974,000 for 2014/15 and Sandwell Council being allocated £20,816 in 2013/14 and £21,805,000 the following year.

Though Sandwell appears to have done well in the Government allocation Cllr Moore claims this only helps plug “the gaping hole” between current spending on public health and the grant which he complained about last month.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt believes providing a two-year budget will give local authorities a long-term understanding of future funding concerning new responsibilities.

He said: “Too many people die too early from diseases that can be prevented. I want more people to be able to look forward to an independent and active old age and developing high quality public health services is essential to make this a reality.

“By putting local authorities in charge of public health, we are giving them the power, freedom and the funding to tackle the issues that blight their local areas and help improve the lives of their local communities. Improving the health of local people will be at the heart of everything they do – from social care to transport, housing, planning and environment.”