A senior government minister has suggested Bradford Council wasted money on “bloated bureaucracies” at the expense of social care and “services that matter” Commons leader Chris Grayling made the comments in response to Shipley MP Philip Davies’ call for a debate into how councils were spending extra council tax revenue meant for social care. Bradford Council raised its council tax by 3.99 per cent this year, which included a new two per cent levy to raise money for social care. Mr Davies said: “It seems Bradford council are only spending a very small proportion of that money, despite levying the full two per cent, on the independent care home sector. “We need a debate on this to find out exactly what was intended by government for this money to go to. This way we can make sure councils up and down the country, particularly Bradford council are spending it to help those care homes pay for things like the national living wage, which I thought was its intention, and not spending it on things that were not intended.” Government announced in November councils facing a social care funding crisis could add two per cent to their council tax bills to raise extra funds. But it was expected the money would be spent solely on care. Mr Grayling said: “What Mr Davies has identified is what we often find ourselves, that when it comes to Labour councils they do not spend the money on the services that matter but spend it on bloated bureaucracies and on their own interests.”