SENIOR MPs warned yesterday that a £2.7 billion fund to improve public health was not being handed to councils properly, leaving some well short.

A third of the 152 councils getting Public Health England (PHE) cash had received funds that were over a fifth too little or too much.

And 13 councils were more than 20 per cent short of their allowance.

PHE was set up in April 2013 to give local authorities cash from a £2.7bn ring-fenced grant to tackle problems such as obesity and tobacco, alcohol and drug-related harm.

But Commons public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge said the Department of Health’s decision not to change how the money was divvied up meant that funding inequalities would persist.

She also warned that councils were stuck in contracts signed by Whitehall that limited their ability to use the cash to respond to local problems.

“It is not clear whether the grant will remain ring-fenced. If the ring-fence is removed, there is a risk that spending on public health will decline as councils come under increasing financial pressures,” Ms Hodge said.

And the veteran Labour MP condemned the postcode lottery of health inequality, with life expectancy for men ranging from 52 to 70 years depending on where they live.

“These inequalities make PHE’s support at a local level particularly important, but we are concerned that it does not have strong enough ways of influencing local authorities to ensure progress against all of its top public health priorities,” she added.

British Medical Association (BMA) public health medicine committee chairman Dr Iain Kennedy said that the MPs’ report made it clear that some areas were just not receiving enough money.

“With local authorities under increasing financial pressure, public health budgets risk being raided to make up for funding shortfalls to other services,” he said.

“These pressures are creating a ‘perfect storm’ that could seriously compromise the health and well-being of local populations and are generating uncertainty for staff and services.”