Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to strengthen statutory guidance on the legal duty to commission palliative care services in the Health and Care Act 2022.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative care and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services, available within the ICB catchment. There are no current plans to update the statutory guidance.

The ICBs are expected to follow the statutory guidance in exercising their functions and must pay due regard to it in the planning, commissioning, and delivery of palliative care and end of life care services.

Additionally, NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must assess how well the ICB has discharged its functions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on improving the (a) access, (b) quality and (c) sustainability of palliative and end of life care.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  The statutory guidance states that ICBs, including the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB, the Surrey Heartlands ICB, and the Frimley ICB, must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, including the ability to filter the available information, such as by deprivation or ethnicity, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.

The Department and NHS England are currently working at pace to develop plans on how best to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

Additionally, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department has invested £3 million in a Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care. This unit is building the evidence base on palliative care and end of life care, with a specific focus on inequalities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support newborn screening laboratories to commence screening for spinal muscular atrophy once an interim decision is published.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

On all aspects of population and targeted screening, Ministers are advised by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). A recommendation by the UK NSC on newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is expected following the conclusion of an in-service evaluation (ISE), which is needed to answer several outstanding questions related to the implementation of a screening programme for SMA.

The UK NSC recommended an ISE of newborn blood spot screening for SMA in National Health Services in 2023. Since then, SMA Newborn Screening ISE Partnership Board was set up to plan and develop work to shape the ISE. This includes planning for newborn laboratories to be able to screen blood spot samples for SMA.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Health Technology Assessment Programme is running a tender process to appoint researchers for the ISE which is a necessary step before the ISE can be rolled out.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy is commenced immediately.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

On all aspects of population and targeted screening, Ministers are advised by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). A recommendation by the UK NSC on newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is expected following the conclusion of an in-service evaluation (ISE), which is needed to answer several outstanding questions related to the implementation of a screening programme for SMA.

The UK NSC recommended an ISE of newborn blood spot screening for SMA in National Health Services in 2023. Since then, SMA Newborn Screening ISE Partnership Board was set up to plan and develop work to shape the ISE. This includes planning for newborn laboratories to be able to screen blood spot samples for SMA.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Health Technology Assessment Programme is running a tender process to appoint researchers for the ISE which is a necessary step before the ISE can be rolled out.

Jury trial rights

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week 2025

Buying community energy locally

Found: Bob Blackman (Chair); Jonathan Davies; Mr Lee Dillon; Mary Glindon; Alison Hume; Will Stone; Martin Vickers

Found: the meeting Members present: Bob Blackman (Chair); Jonathan Davies; Mr Lee Dillon; Will Stone; Martin Vickers

Found: Hudnall Dr Al Pinkerton Lord Shinkwin Rebecca Smith Sarah Smith Lord Taylor of Holbeach Martin Vickers

Found: Hudnall Dr Al Pinkerton Lord Shinkwin Rebecca Smith Sarah Smith Lord Taylor of Holbeach Martin Vickers

Found: Hudnall Dr Al Pinkerton Lord Shinkwin Rebecca Smith Sarah Smith Lord Taylor of Holbeach Martin Vickers

Found: present: Bob Blackman (Chair); Jess Brown-Fuller; Jonathan Davies; Mary Glindon; Will Stone; Martin Vickers